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A  BUILDER    OF 
THE  NEW  SOUTH 


Daniel  Augustus  Tompkins 


A  BUILDER  OF 
THE  NEW  SOUTH 

BEING   THE   STORY   OF   THE 
LIFE  WORK  OF 

DANIEL  AUGUSTUS  TOMPKINS 

BY 

GEORGE  TAYLOE  WINSTON 

LITT.  B.  (CORNELL),  A.  M.,  LL.D. 

Sometime  President  of  the  University  of  North 
Carolina,  the  University  of  Texas,  and 
the  North  Carolina  College  of  Agri- 
culture and  Engineering 


GARDEN    CITY  NEW   YORK 

DOUBLEDAY,  PAGE  &  COMPANY 
1920 


.^ 


COPYRIGHT,  1920,  BY 

DOUBLEDAY,  PAGE  &  COMPANY 

ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED,  INCLUDFNG  THAT   OF   TRANSLATION 

INTO  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES,  INCLUDING  THE  SCANDINAVIAN 


TO  THE  YOUNG  MEN 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

THIS   STORY   OF  A   LIFE 

DEVOTED   TO   THE 

UPBUILDING    OF   THEIR    NATIVE   LAND 

AFTER   ITS 

OVERTHROW  AND  IMPOVERISHMENT 

BY 

CIVIL  WAR  AND    RECONSTRUCTION 

IS  LOVINGLY   DEDICATED 

BY  A   LIFELONG   TEACHER   OF 

SOUTHERN  YOUTH 


FOREWORD 

THE  rebuilding  of  the  Southern  States  after 
the  Civil  War  was  an  achievement  of  no  less 
magnitude  than  the  War  itself.  The  over- 
throw of  the  South  was  accomplished  in  four  years; 
its  rebuilding  was  the  work  of  half  a  century.  Strip- 
ped of  men  and  wealth,  its  industrial  system  shat- 
tered, its  very  civilization  threatened  with  radical 
reconstruction,  the  South  lay  stricken  and  prostrate, 
while  the  victorious  North  was  growing  and  waxing 
strong.  A  new  generation  was  born  and  grown  to 
middle  age  before  the  wealth  of  the  South  was  equal  to 
what  it  had  been  at  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War. 

But  a  new  South  was  born  at  last,  begotten  of  in- 
dustrial forces.  This  achievement,  which  had  been 
attempted  in  vain  by  educational  and  religious 
missionaries,  by  authors,  editors,  statesmen,  and 
orators,  was  wrought  at  last  by  silent  workers  in 
field,  forest,  mill,  and  mine.  They  built  a  new  South, 
not  with  sword  and  gun,  nor  with  voice  and  pen, 
but  with  steam  and  electricity  with  skilled  labor 
and  machinery,  with  new  roads  and  a  new  agricul- 
ture, with  thrift  and  economy,  with  community 
spirit  and  cooperation,  with  democratic  government 
and  democratic  ideals.  Their  achievement  was 
characterized  by  largeness  of  vision,  by  mastery  over 
men,  and  by  capacity  for  work.  Their  toil  and  their 
endurance  in  peace  were  no  less  heroic  than  the 
courage  and  fortitude  of  Southern  soldiers  on  fields 
of  battle. 

vii 


viii  FOREWORD 

Among  the  foremost  of  these  commonwealth 
builders  was  Daniel  Augustus  Tompkins,  industrial 
worker,  promoter,  and  missionary.  He  was  fitted 
for  the  work  by  heredity  and  early  environment,  by 
character,  talents  and  education.  Born  and  brought 
up  on  a  southern  plantation,  educated  and  trained  in 
Northern  technical  schools,  mills,  and  machine  shops, 
inventive  and  receptive  of  new  ideas,  strong  and  ener- 
getic in  body  and  mind,  interested  in  everything 
pertaining  to  man,  and  full  of  zeal  to  help  mankind 
by  teaching  men  to  help  themselves,  he  was  a  rare 
combination  of  worker  and  philosopher,  of  student 
and  teacher,  of  economist  and  philanthropist;  a 
Southern  Franklin,  growing  in  poor  soil  and  enriching 
the  soil  he  grew  in. 

The  story  of  his  life  is  the  story  of  the  New  South. 
It  will  be  told  in  the  following  pages,  as  far  as  possible, 
by  himself  and  in  his  own  words. 


CONTENTS 

Pace 

Foreword vii 

CHAPTER 

I.    Early  Life  on  the  Southern  Plantation  3 

II.     Education    in    South    Carolina    and 

New  York 18 

III.  Apprenticeship  in  the  Bethlehem  Iron 

Works 33 

IV.  Working  in  Germany 53 

V.    The  Old  Industrial  South.      ...  68 

VI.    The  Beginnings  of  the  New  South     .  77 

VII.     Builder  of  Cotton  Oil  Mills     ...  95 

VIII.    Builder  of  Cotton  Mills     ....  115 

IX.    Builder  of  Machinery  for  Cotton  In- 
dustries       132 

X.    A  Plan  to  Raise  Capital  for  Manufac- 
turing   147 

XI.     Promoter  of  Industrial  and  Technical 

Education 156 

XII.     Builder  of  Textile  Schools  ....  187 

Xni,     Author  of  Books  on  Cotton  Industries  219 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 


XIV.     Independent    and    Industrial    Jour- 
nalist   230 

XV.     Member  of  U.  S.  Industrial  Commis- 
sion       256 

XVI.     Apostle  of  Patriotism 284 

XVII.     A  Plan  for  Marketing  Cotton  ...     309 

XVIII.     Promoter  of  Building  and  Loan  Asso- 
ciations      329 

XIX.     Various     Activities — Charlotte     and 

Edgefield 349 

XX.     Personal  Characteristics — ^Lessons  of 

Life — Summary 368 


A  BUILDER    OF 
THE  NEW  SOUTH 


A   Builder  of  the   New    South 


CHAPTER  I 

EARLY  LIFE  AND  TRAINING — THE  OLD  SOUTHERN 
PLANTATION — HEREDITY 

I  WAS  born,"  said  Daniel  Augustus  Tompkins  in 
"Cotton  and  Cotton  Oil/'  "on  my  father's  cot- 
ton plantation  in  Edgefield  County,  South 
Carolina,  October  12,  1851.  My  boyhood  and  early 
youth,  extending  through  the  Civil  War  and  the  dec- 
ade preceding,  was  spent  on  the  plantation.  I  was 
a  child  of  the  Old  South." 

The  Southern  plantation  is  described  by  Tompkins 
with  unwearied  and  affectionate  fidelity  in  various 
speeches  and  writings.  He  gives  us  a  picture  of  its 
daily  life — its  work  and  pleasures,  its  useful  lessons 
and  fine  training.  It  had  laid  the  foundations  of  his 
great  career. 

"The  plantation,"  he  wrote," was  a  little  world 
of  itself.  Some  plantations  comprised  as  high  as  ten 
to  twenty  thousand  acres  of  land  and  one  thousand 
slaves;  but  these  were  comparatively  few.  The 
entire  investment  in  such  a  plantation  would  have 
been  about  one  million  dollars.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  were  a  great  many  instances  of  small  cotton 
planters  owning  ten  or  less  slaves  and  three  hundred 
or  less  acres  of  land.  The  capital  in  such  cases  would 
not  exceed  eight  to  ten  thousand  dollars.     The  great 

3 


4  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

bulk  of  the  Southern  cotton  crop  was  produced  by 
planters  who  owned  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  and 
fifty  slaves  and  two  thousand  to  five  thousand  acres 
of  land.  It  was  this  great  class  that  made  their 
plantation  supplies  on  the  plantation  and  made 
cotton  growing  a  great  institution." 

Taking  the  average  plantation  of  this  type  at  100 
slaves  and  3,000  acres  of  land,  the  equipment  would 
be  as  follows:  25  plow  hands,  25  miscellaneous 
hands,  50  women  and  children,  non-producers,  25 
mules,  4  horses  for  family  and  general  use,  600  hogs, 
25  head  of  cattle,  100  sheep,  10  goats,  15  dogs, 
chickens,  guineas,  peafowls,  turkeys,  geese,  ducks, 
etc,  blacksmith  shop,  wheelwright  and  other  wood- 
working shops,  20  to  25  negro  houses,  gin  house  and 
screw,  stables,  barn,  carriage  houses  and  wagon 
sheds,  and  in  many  instances  a  grist  and  flour  mill 
and  a  store. 

Such  an  average  plantation  of  100  slaves  and  3,000 
acres  of  land,  with  its  equipment,  would  be  worth 
on  an  average  about  $100,000.  It  would  produce 
about  100  bales  of  cotton  besides  all  supplies.  Such 
a  plantation  conducted  with  energy  and  good  judg- 
ment would  easily  make  $10,000  to  $20,000  a  year 
according  to  management  and  the  price  of  cotton. 
Some  planters  were  thrifty  and  economical  and  grew 
rich  with  great  rapidity,  while  many  employed  over- 
seers to  look  after  their  estates,  and  spent  the  in- 
comes in  travel  or  local  extravagance. 

The  successful  management  of  a  large  plantation 
required  both  energy  and  talent.  The  idea  that  the 
ante-bellum  cotton  planter  was  indolent,  or  an  in- 
different business  man,  or  that  he  was  always  a  spend- 
thrift, is  totally  wrong.  On  the  contrary  he  was, 
ever  on  the  alert.     He  was  judicial  minded,  energetic. 


EARLY  LIFE  AND  TRAINLNG  5 

usually  well  educated,  always  well  trained  in  every 
operation  connected  with  the  production  of  standard 
crops.  He  succeeded  by  the  same  means  that  are 
necessary  for  success  now,  viz.,  by  better  education, 
better  training,  more  energy  and  steadiness  of  pur- 
pose than  the  average  of  the  people  who  do  not 
succeed  so  well.  The  average  well-regulated  planta- 
tion was  almost  always  in  the  immediate  charge  of 
the  owner.  If  the  owner  was  a  professional  man, 
lawyer,  doctor,  or  preacher,  there  was  generally  an 
overseer.  Many  planters  who  were  not  professional 
men,  also  had  overseers.  These  overseers  had  gen- 
eral charge  of  the  labor.  They  blew  a  horn,  or 
rang  a  bell,  in  the  morning  to  call  out  the  negroes 
to  work,  and  otherwise  looked  after  their  labors 
in  detail.  It  was  the  overseer  who  flogged  the  slaves 
when  this  was  considered  necessary.  To  aid  the 
overseer  or  the  planter  in  supervising  and  forwarding 
the  work,  negro  foremen  were  selected,  who  led  and 
directed  their  fellow  slaves.  At  the  noon-day  rest 
and  at  the  close  of  each  day's  work  the  foremen 
looked  after  the  watering  and  feeding  of  animals 
and  the  care  of  tools  and  implements. 

The  planter  usually  rode  over  the  plantation  once  a 
day,  giving  directions  to  the  overseer,  greeting  and 
cheering  the  workers,  inquiring  after  the  absent,  and 
in  various  ways  manifesting  his  interest  not  only  in 
the  work  but  also  in  the  workers  and  their  families. 
The  planter's  son  frequently  accompanied  him  on 
these  rounds;  and  in  his  father's  absence  the  son 
would  take  his  place.  The  young  master  was  always 
an  object  of  especial  interest  to  the  negroes.  In  a 
sense  he  was  one  of  them.  They  had  all  ^helped 
raise  him ' ;  and  the  younger  set  had  frolicked,  sported, 
and  escapaded  with  him.     He  was  now  grown  be- 


6  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

yond  them,  was  in  authority  over  them,  but  the  same 
kindly  sympathy  remained.  They  now  accepted 
the  mastery  of  their  former  companion,  or  nursling, 
not  merely  from  necessity  but  from  affection,  admira- 
tion, and  respect  for  his  superior  intellectual  and 
moral  power.  "  The  white  boy  or  white  girl  of  slave 
holding  families,"  says  "Cotton  and  Oil,"  "was  to 
them  something  just  a  little  more  than  ordinary 
humanity,  and  thus  they  could  exercise  an  authority 
and  an  influence  almost  incomprehensible.  These 
peculiar  relations  were  not  without  influence  on 
the  white  race.  The  control  was  not  alone  by 
force.  The  example  of  perfect  conduct  was  import- 
ant in  two  particulars.  These  were  physical  courage 
and  the  keeping  of  one's  word.  The  negroes  admired 
the  man  who  was  afraid  of  nothing  and  who  never 
failed  in  his  promises.  Therefore  the  qualities  of 
courage  and  truthfulness  became  highly  developed; 
and  to  question  either  of  these  in  any  planter  meant 
mortal  combat  or  disgrace.  Thus  came  the  fre- 
quency of  the  duel  in  the  South,  though  it  never  was 
so  frequent  as  has  been  supposed." 

Memories  of  sports  and  amusements  on  the  planta- 
tion were  with  Tompkins  a  fountain  of  delight, 
bubbling  over  in  his  books  and  speeches.  "The 
amusements  on  the  plantation,"  he  wrote  in  "Cotton 
and  Cotton  Oil,"  "were  very  numerous.  In  all 
of  these  the  negroes  took  an  interest,  and  in  many 
participated.  Fox  hunting  was  very  popular.  Many 
planters  kept  fox  hounds,  some  as  many  as  twenty- 
five  or  thirty.  It  was  not  uncommon  for  ladies  to 
ride  after  the  hounds;  and  occasionally  a  privileged 
negro  would  be  allowed  to  go.  Almost  every  planter 
kept  pointer  or  setter  dogs,  and  hunted  partridges. 
The  planter's  sons  and  negroes  kept  up  usually  a 


EARLY  LIFE  AND  TRAINING  7 

miscellanous  collection  of  rabbit  dogs,  coon  dogs, 
and  'possum  dogs.  Horse  racing,  chicken  fighting, 
wrestling,  and  boxing  were  all  popular  and  perfectly 
respectable.  These  sports  were  conducted  with  per- 
fect decorum;  and  as  a  rule  there  was  little  or  no  bet- 
ting. Betting  was  not  unusual,  however,  and  some- 
times it  would  run  high.  House  parties  and  picnics 
with  dancing  were  frequent  amongst  the  young  white 
people,  while  barbecues,  with  political  speaking  or 
miscellaneous  oratory,  were  indulged  in  by  the  older 
people.  The  negroes  fiddled  and  danced  much. 
The  white  boys  and  negroes  hunted  rabbits  in  day- 
time and  coons  and  opossums  at  night.  The  life 
of  the  planter  and  his  sons  was  hardy;  and  they 
loved  hardy  sports.  These  amusements,  both  in- 
doors and  outdoors,  never  interfered  with  the  duties 
or  domestic  economies  of  the  household  or  planta- 
tion." 

"My  brother  was  a  great  hunter,"  writes  Hon.  A. 
S.  Tompkins,  "rabbits  in  the  daytime  and  opossums 
at  night.  He  and  the  negro  boys  would  often  stay 
out  till  nearly  day,  with  a  few  hounds  on  the  place. 
He  was  fond  of  dogs  and  horses,  a  fine  rider;  was  ac- 
tive and  self-reliant  from  boyhood;  was  fond  of  bird 
hunting  and  a  good  shot  on  the  wing  when  a  boy. 
He  was  also  a  great  swimmer.  I  remember  his  mak- 
ing a  splendid  bateau  of  wood  and  caulking  it  with 
cotton  and  tar;  in  this  boat  we  would  fish,  often  en- 
tirely nude.  On  one  occasion  our  mother,  going 
away  from  home  on  a  visit,  told  us  not  to  go  in  swim- 
ming during  her  absence  more  than  once  a  day.  He 
laughingly  said  to  me,  *  Let's  stay  in  the  creek  all 
day,'  which  we  did.  We  had  much  fun  in  this  boat, 
and  jumping  off  a  spring  board,  diving  often  with  a 
dozen  black  negro  boy  companions." 


8  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

Day  by  day  plantation  life  was  developing  for 
young  Tompkins  a  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body,  a 
spirit  of  self-reliance,  capacity  for  organization  and 
leadership,  knowledge  of  and  sympathy  with  negro 
character,  besides  familiarity  with  agriculture  and 
agricultural  problems.  His  debt  to  the  old  planta- 
tion was  acknowledged  by  Tompkins  in  books  and 
speeches.  "The  Southern  planter  before  the  Civil 
War,"  said  he,  *' trained  his  sons  to  the  responsibil- 
ities of  life  better  than  is  done  now.  In  the  old 
plantation  situation  wealth  seems  to  have  been  no 
hindrance  to  the  production  of  a  whole  man.  The 
plantation  rarely  produced  a  snob  or  an  incompetent. 
Perhaps  the  wholesome  country  air,  proximity  to 
the  soil,  and  abundant  exercise  had  their  influence. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  these  did  have  power- 
ful influence.  But  the  proximity  to  humanity  and 
the  development  of  friendly,  even  loving,  sympathy 
for  all  kinds  of  humanity,  and  the  practical  appren- 
ticeship in  every  kind  of  work  done  on  the  farm,  did 
as  much  as  the  soil,  climate,  and  exercise. 

"The  ante-bellum  planter's  son  was  not  only  in 
close  personal  association  with  the  labor  and  the 
negroes  on  the  place,  but  this  relation  with  all  about 
him  was  one  of  sound,  practical  human  interest  on 
both  sides.  By  force  of  surrounding  circumstances 
he  was  serving  an  apprenticeship  for  leadership. 
Whether  required  to  work  or  not,  no  boy  of  sound 
mind  and  body  could  well  grow  up  on  a  plantation 
without  learning  to  plow,  to  ride  a  mule,  to  do  all  the 
operations  of  a  plantation." 

"My  brother  took  an  interest  in  the  entire  planta- 
tion," writes  A.  S.  Tompkins,  "and  loved  to  do, 
as  well  as  to  see,  every  kind  of  work  that  was  going 
on.     He  would  often  voluntarily  plow  all  day,  cut 


EARLY  LIFE  AND  TRAINING  9 

and  shock  oats  and  wheat,  feed  the  cotton  into  the 
gin,  or  drive  the  mules  around  the  big  upright  wheel 
under  the  gin." 

The  supervision  of  his  father's  plantation  was  often 
entrusted  to  young  Tompkins,  who  quickly  mastered 
the  details  of  its  work  and  management.  But  his 
chief  delight  was  in  the  blacksmith  shop  and  the 
shops  for  woodworking,  where  his  constructive  talent 
and  his  aptness  with  tools  found  opportunity  for 
practical  exercise.  *'In  the  carpenter  shop  my 
brother  worked  on  everything  from  fixing  an  old 
gun  or  clock  to  making  a  complete  wagon,"  says 
A.  S.  Tompkins.  "He  was  fond  of  helping  make 
the  water  wheels  and  trunks  for  our  father's  grist 
mill,  a  difficult  task,  and  took  great  interest  in  the 
mill,  working  on  the  dam  when  needing  repau-s.  I 
well  remember  when  he  took  a  notion  to  make  a 
croquet  set,  balls,  mallets,  etc.,  and  wore  me  out 
turning  the  old  lathe  for  him.  The  balls  were 
turned  from  walnut,  and  he  made  as  good  a  set  as 
you  could  buy. 

**My  brother  made  enough  money,  mainly  by 
carpenter  work  at  home  before  he  went  to  college, 
to  cover  his  college  expenses.  When  a  mere  boy, 
not  yet  in  his  teens,  he  built  a  neat  picket  fence  all 
around  the  yard  at  home.  He  was  constantly  busy 
helping  to  build  and  repair  barns,  negro  cabins,  and 
other  farm  houses.  Immediately  after  the  war, 
when  times  were  hard,  he  was  especially  helpful  to 
our  father  by  building  two  bridges,  which  father 
got  under  contract  from  the  County  Commissioners 
of  Edgefield  County.  I  remember  one  of  the  bridges 
was  across  Rocky  Creek  near  home.  In  fact,  one 
end  of  the  bridge  landed  on  our  plantation.  My 
brother  was  only  sixteen  years  old,  but  he  went 


10  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

at  that  bridge  with  all  the  enthusiasm  that  Napoleon 
went  at  Lodi.  He  would  wake  up  before  day  and 
lay  restless  w^aiting  for  day  to  break  to  go  down  to 
the  creek  and  work  on  the  bridge.  He  made  a  fine 
job  of  it;  and  the  public  said  it  was  the  best  bridge 
ever  put  on  that  stream.  All  the  logs  and  timbers 
for  both  bridges  he  got  out  with  negro  labor  from 
V  the  woods  of  father's  plantation;  and  by  superintend- 
ing the  work  and  planning  the  bridges  himself,  he 
made  a  profit  of  $2,000  on  a  $3,000  contract." 

In  the  home  also  the  lad  was  growing  and  develop- 
ing under  the  guidance  of  a  wise,  capable,  and  rarely 
gifted  mother.  The  women  of  the  Old  South  have 
often  been  pictured  as  idle  and  self-indulgent,  more 
energetic  in  the  pursuit  of  pleasure  than  in  the  per- 
formance of  domestic  duties.  Never  was  picture 
falser  and  more  unreal.  The  typical  Southern 
woman,  the  wife  of  the  average  planter,  was  a  model 
of  industry,  efl5ciency,  and  unselfishness.  Her  do- 
mestic establishment  was  large,  requiring  for  its 
management  careful  supervision  with  much  physical 
labor.  The  household  usually  included,  besides 
her  husband,  children,  and  domestic  servants,  a 
goodly  number  of  visiting  relatives,  or  other  guests, 
with  their  retinue  of  children  and  servants.  Passing 
strangers  also  were  freely  entertamed,  oftentimes 
with  servants  and  horses. 

Outside  the  family  household  also  the  planter's 
wife  was  burdened  with  responsibility  for  the  health, 
conduct,  and  employment  of  all  negroes  who  were  not 
actively  at  work  in  the  big  fields.  It  was  her  daily 
task  to  inspect  the  negro  cabins,  to  administer  medi- 
cine, to  give  directions  for  work,  health,  and  sanita- 
tion. When  occasion  required,  as  it  frequently  did, 
she  performed  the  duties  of  midwife,  nurse,  physician, 


EARLY  LIFE  AND  TRAINING  11 

or  spiritual  comforter.  Upon  her  the  burdens  of 
slavery  pressed  more  heavily  than  upon  her  husband. 
Her  life  was  largely  spent  in  trying  to  remedy  its 
wastefulness  and  inefficiency.  Her  finer  nature 
shrank  from  its  immoralities  and  cruelties. 

To  the  negroes  the  planter's  wife  seemed  scarcely 
less  than  an  angel.  Too  often,  alas!  she  was  forced 
to  become  a  protecting  angel,  standing  between  the 
overseer's  lash  and  the  cowering  slave,  between  the 
weeping  mother  and  the  auction  block.  Her  purity 
of  life,  sometimes  in  marked  contrast  to  her  husband's, 
her  gentleness  and  firmness,  her  all-seeing  eye  and 
skilful  hand,  her  tact,  wisdom,  and  judgment,  and 
especially  her  easy  control  over  everybody,  including 
even  "old  master,"  made  her  with  the  ignorant  and 
emotional  slaves  an  object  not  only  of  strong  love, 
but  of  deep  and  superstitious  reverence.  Every 
negro  on  the  plantation  would  have  given  his  life 
in  her  protection.  She  was  safe  by  night  or  by  day 
in  the  remotest  negro  cabin,  in  the  solitary  woods, 
or  alone  and  unattended  on  unfrequented  roads. 
"The  influence  of  the  planter's  family,"  wrote  Tom- 
pkins in  "Cotton  and  Cotton  Oil,"  "was  of  greater 
importance  than  was  ever  appreciated  in  keeping 
the  better  natures  of  the  negroes  to  the  fore.  A  very 
generous  and  friendly  kindness  has  an  immense  and 
far-reaching  influence.  During  the  Civil  War  the 
cotton  plantations  were  practically  in  charge  of  the 
planters'  wives,  assisted  by  a  few  old  and  decrepit 
men  and  boys  under  sixteen  years  of  age.  It  is  the 
marvel  of  marvels  that  in  this  condition,  lasting 
nearly  four  years,  there  was  never  an  outbreak  or  a 
symptom  of  discontent  among  the  slaves.  The  negro 
character  itself,  the  very  exact  and  practical  knowl- 
edge by  the  planters'  wives  of  the  negro  character 


12  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

and  the  past  training  of  the  negro,  all  contributed 
to  this  result.  The  extent  of  the  trust  that  was 
placed  in  the  negro's  keeping  and  the  perfection 
of  its  keeping  on  his  part  during  the  Civil  War  can 
never  be  fully  realized  or  appreciated." 

On  some  plantations,  where  the  planter,  being  a 
lawyer  or  physician,  was  much  absent  from  home 
because  of  professional  duties,  or  was  indifferent  to 
all  work  and  economies  excepting  the  work  of  grow- 
ing cotton  in  the  big  fields,  the  planter's  wife,  be- 
sides her  domestic  duties,  had  the  care  and  super- 
vision of  the  garden,  the  orchard,  the  dairy,  the  poul- 
try yard,  and  even  the  piggery.  The  work  also  of  the 
loom  and  spinning  wheel,  where  such  industries 
existed,  came  usually  under  her  direction,  as  well 
as  the  cutting  out  and  making  of  clothing  for  the 
large  plantation  population.  It  was  an  endless 
task,  full  of  labor,  perplexity,  and  nervous  strain; 
but  the  planter's  wife  performed  it,  usually  with 
cheerfulness,  intelligence,  and  efficiency.  Trained 
in  such  a  school,  many  women  developed  ability 
and  experience  adequate  to  the  management  of  the 
entire  plantation.  During  the  four  years  of  civil  war 
the  women  of  the  South,  aided  by  half -grown  sons, 
successfully  managed  the  farms  and  plantations,  sup- 
plying food  and  clothing  not  only  for  the  entire  civil 
population  but  also  for  the  armies  in  the  field.  Such 
a  woman  of  the  finest  type  was  Hannah  Virginia 
Smyly,  the  mother  of  Daniel  A.  Tompkins. 

"Our  mother  was  of  Scotch-Irish  stock,"  writes 
A.  S.  Tompkins,  "a  cousin  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  whom 
she  much  resembled  in  her  pale,  firm,  clear-cut 
features.  Her  complexion  was  fair  with  light  blue 
eyes  and  mild  golden-hued  hair,  not  red,  but  light 
brown  bathed  in  sunshine.     She  was  five  feet  six 


EARLY  LIFE  AND  TRAINING  13 

inches  tall,  rather  slender  in  stature,  weighing  about 
one  hundred  and  thirty  pounds.  Her  health  was 
usually  good,  although  delicate,  especially  after 
living  through  the  great  strain  of  the  Civil  War. 
She  was  educated  in  the  country  schools  and  the 
village  academy,  and  was  graduated  from  the  cele- 
brated Moravian  Academy  at  Salem,  N.  C,  whose 
excellent  training  in  handiwork  and  domestic  scientie 
and  arts,  as  well  as  in  books  and  music,  had  attracted 
planters'  daughters  from  all  the  Southern  States. 
Our  mother  was  a  perfect  complement  to  our  father 
in  person,  character,  and  ability.  He  was  large,  stout, 
and  ruddy,  weighing  over  two  hundred  pounds, 
with  coal-black  eyes  and  hair,  a  brilliant  man  of 
great  imagination,  a  ready  and  fluent  speaker,  fond 
of  anecdotes  and  society,  attractive  and  brilliant 
in  conversation  and  social  life,  amiable  and  easy- 
going, more  devoted  to  the  practice  of  medicine  and 
to  scientific  and  philosophical  study  than  to  the  details 
of  plantation  management.  He  owned  a  fine  library, 
and  was  a  diligent  student  of  human  history  and 
human  nature,  delighting  to  search  out  the  secret 
springs  and  motives  of  human  conduct.  Our 
mother  was  firm,  with  great  decision  of  character, 
kind  and  sympathetic,  full  of  religious  faith  which 
supported  a  strong  sense  of  duty.  She  was  an  active 
member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  zealously  in- 
structed the  negro  children,  as  well  as  her  own,  in 
the  Bible  catechism,  taking  us  all  regularly  to  church 
and  Sunday-school.  Her  words  were  few,  clear-cut, 
and  potent.  The  slaves  loved,  revered,  and  obeyed 
her.  She  was  opposite  to  father  in  every  way, 
matter  of  fact,  industrious,  and  rigidly  economical. 
She  dominated  him  by  superior  will  power  and  ex- 
ecutive ability.     During  his  absence  in  the  army  she 


14  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

was  reputed  to  have  made  better  crops  and  managed 
things  better  generally  than  he  did  when  at  home. 
Her  talent  for  business,  her  energetic  nature,  and  her 
strong  sense  of  duty  made  her  a  perfect  realization 
of  the  virtuous  woman  portrayed  by  King  Lemuel, 
*The  prophecy  that  his  mother  taught  him,'  in 
Proverbs,  Chapter  31,  verses  10  to  31.  She  was  just 
such  a  woman.  I  can  see  her  now  in  my  mind's 
eye  as  she  sat  by  the  fireside  at  night,  during  father's 
absence  in  the  war,  listening  to  the  old  overseer  as  he 
gave  her  the  account  of  the  day's  work  on  the  planta- 
tion. She  knew  every  field,  in  what  it  was  planted, 
its  proper  culture,  and  the  quantity  of  daily  work 
that  should  be  performed.  She  kept  track  of  all 
the  cows  and  calves,  of  the  sows  and  pigs,  the  flock 
of  sheep,  the  mules  and  horses.  Under  her  watch- 
ful eye  the  crops  of  corn,  oats,  wheat,  and  cotton  were 
most  carefully  husbanded.  She  saw  to  the  harvest- 
ing and  grinding  of  the  sugar  cane  and  the  boiling 
of  the  sorghum  molasses,  to  the  curing  of  the  pork 
and  bacon.  Her  vigilant  eyes  scrutinized  the  daily 
work  and  daily  feeding  of  man  and  beast.  Owing 
to  non-intercourse  with  the  North  and  blockade  of 
our  seaports  all  food  and  clothing  had  to  be  made 
on  the  plantation.  We  had  a  corn  and  flour  mill 
run  by  water,  a  gin  house  with  mule  power,  a  molasses 
mill  and  boiler.  My  mother  also  fixed  up  a  boiler 
to  cook  cottonseed  and  peas  for  cow  feed.  She  raised 
plenty  of  chickens,  turkeys,  guineas,  and  ducks  for 
the  table,  geese  for  feathers,  and  wool  for  clothes. 
The  wool  she  packed  and  sent  to  Chatham  Manufac- 
turing Company  at  Elkins  Valley,  N.  C,  whence  it 
came  back  in  cloth  for  us  and  the  slaves.  She  ship- 
ped hides  to  the  tannery,  and  got  in  exchange  shoes 
for  the  whole  plantation.     Toward  the  end   of  the 


EARLY  LIFE  AND  TRAINING  15 

war,  when  salt  was  very  scarce,  she  dug  up  the  salty 
earth  in  the  smoke  house,  ran  it  through  the  hopper, 
and  extracted  the  salt  for  table  use. 

"She  was  fond  of  bees  and  kept  a  lot  of  some 
twenty  hives.  It  was  amusing  to  see  how  my  father, 
who  was  afraid  of  the  bees,  always  got  stung  when 
he  went  about  the  hives;  but  she  could  walk  up 
amongst  the  bees,  who  seemed  to  know  her,  and 
without  alarm  but  with  quiet  ease  could  handle 
them  with  impunity.  She  always  had  plenty  of 
honey.  All  the  year  round  she  kept  up  a  most  excel- 
lent vegetable  garden,  also  a  fine  fruit  orchard,  es- 
pecially apples  and  peaches,  which  she  would  dry 
for  winter  use.  She  was  a  good  cook,  too;  and  her 
negro  cooks,  although  willing  and  capable,  always 
did  the  kitchen  work  under  my  mother's  personal 
direction. 

"My  mother  wasted  nothing,  not  even  time;  for 
she  was  always  an  early  riser.  Her  capacity  for 
details  was  truly  wonderful.  What  with  looking 
after  the  feeding  and  clothing  of  all  these  slaves  and 
her  own  family,  the  farm  work,  the  feeding  of  stock, 
chickens,  etc.,  the  care  of  the  sick,  the  garden,  the 
making  of  soap  and  candles,  having  the  crops  housed, 
grinding  the  grain,  having  the  cotton  picked,  ginned, 
and  packed,  killing  the  hogs  and  trying  out  the  lard, 
making  sausage  and  liver  puddings,  etc.,  her  dairy, 
her  bees,  smoking  the  meat,  shearing  the  sheep,  send- 
ing off  the  wool,  seeing  that  we  children  went  off  to 
school  well  clad  and  with  a  bucket  of  bountiful 
dinner  for  the  noon  recess — I  say,  what  with  all 
these  many  duties  filling  each  day,  as  the  queen  bee, 
on  her  well-equipped  farm,  it  is  amazing  to  me,  when  I 
think  of  it,  how  she  ever  did  it. 

"When  the  negroes  were  freed,  she  did  not  cower 


16  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

nor  sit  discouraged.  Her  fortitude  rose  nobly  to 
the  occasion,  and  she  met  it  with  undaunted  courage 
and  self-reliance.  She  was  a  daily  inspiration  to  my 
brother.  He  would  look  up  into  her  bright,  clear 
eyes  and  catch  the  light  of  her  conquered  but  un- 
dismayed spirit,  and  was  ever  ready  to  stand  by 
her  and  help  her  amid  adversity  and  sorrow.  He 
loved  his  mother  with  wonderful  devotion,  because,  I 
reckon,  he  was  so  much  like  her  himself.  They  were 
both  firm  and  self-reliant,  strongly  marked  by  de- 
cision of  character.  It  was  to  her  that  he  was  in- 
debted for  those  deep  forces  that  beget  genius." 

At  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  the  South  was  bank- 
rupt. Most  of  the  planters  were  overwhelmed  and 
ruined.  The  loss  of  slaves,  the  payment  of  old  debts, 
the  meeting  of  new  obligations,  the  disorganization 
of  labor,  the  general  despondency  and  lack  of  enter- 
prise were  burdens  under  which  even  the  strongest 
staggered  and  fell.  Amid  this  general  ruin  a  few 
survived  by  reason  of  exceptional  wisdom,  foresight, 
and  thrift.  Among  these  few  was  the  family  of  Doc- 
tor Tompkins.  "  The  fortunes  of  our  family,  at  the  end 
of  the  war,"  writes  A.  S.  Tompkins,  "were  saved  by 
my  mother,  my  father,  of  course,  cooperating  when- 
ever at  home.  Every  year  during  the  war  my  mother 
packed  up,  as  a  surplus,  and  stored  away,  about  thirty- 
five  bales  of  cotton.  So,  when  the  war  ended,  there 
wajs  some  hundred  and  thirty  bales  of  cotton,  which 
my  faiher  sold  at  over  thirty  cents  a  pound  in  gold, 
making  about  $20,000.  I  well  remember  seeing  my 
parents  together  counting  it.  It  was  in  shot  bags,  and 
as  it  lay  in  glittering  piles  on  the  bed  it  was  a  most 
fajscinating  sight.  My  mother  had  looked  forward  to 
this  with  that  high  degree  of  resourcefulness  which 
characterized  my  brother.    This  money  made  my 


EARLY  LIFE  AND  TRAINING  17 

father  comparatively  easy,  although  he  had  to  pay 
some  rather  heavy  security  debts." 

At  an  early  age  the  character  of  Tompkins,  in  its 
broad  outlines,  was  clearly  manifest.  Those  who 
attribute  character  chiefly  to  maternal  influence  will 
see  his  mother  reproduced  in  the  practical  talents 
of  her  son :  in  love  of  work,  executive  ability ,  thrift, 
and  economy,  patience,  persistence,  and  fortitude. 
His  intellect  was  developing  more  slowly,  but  al- 
ready was  following  the  lines  of  paternal  inheritance. 
**My  father  often  urged  me  to  keep  a  diary,*'  he 
wrote  in  his  memoirs.  "I  asked  him  what  there  was 
to  fill  up  a  diary  in  the  life  of  a  remote  plantation 
worked  by  negroes,  with  no  white  person  present 
excepting  our  family.  He  said  in  reply:  *You  are 
living  in  the  greatest  era  of  the  world's  history.  You 
have  seen  the  emancipation  of  four  million  negro 
slaves  and  the  preservation  of  the  American  Union. 
Our  age  is  wonderful  also  for  scientific  discoveries 
and  inventions.  Some  day  you  will  be  an  actor  in 
this  age;  and  it  behooves  you  to  keep  your  eyes  open, 
mind  alert,  vision  clear,  and  spirit  sympathetic  to 
all  the  movements  of  humanity,  whether  they  happen 
in  your  neighborhood,  or  far  away  in  the  distant 
parts  of  the  earth.' " 

Father  and  mother  were  happily  blended  in  their 
oldest  son.  His  intellect  was  his  father's,  his  char- 
acter was  his  mother's.  His  talents  for  leadership 
and  mastery  were  early  developed  through  the  train- 
ing of  plantation  life.  With  his  father's  imagination 
and  mental  grasp  he  was  to  conceive  great  enter- 
prises; he  was  to  execute  them  with  his  mother's 
patience,  accuracy,  and  thoroughness. 


CHAPTER  II 

EARLY     EDUCATION    IN     SOUTH     CAROLINA — 

SOUTHERN  IDEALS — LATER  EDUCATION  IN 

RENSSELAER  POLYTECHNIC  INSTITUTE 

A  T  THE  age  of  sixteen  young  Tompkins  was 
L\  ready  for  the  university.  He  had  gone 
JL  JL  through  the  training  of  the  old  field  schools 
and  the  Edgefield  Academy,  had  received  the  usual 
instruction  in  Latin,  Greek,  English,  and  mathe- 
matics, had  shown  especial  fondness  for  mathematics, 
indifference  to  the  languages,  and  marked  aversion 
to  the  weekly  Friday  afternoon  exercises  in  declama- 
tion, debate,  and  oratory.  These  exercises  were 
public,  and  were  the  most  prominent  and  popular 
features  of  Southern  schools.  They  were  the  nur- 
series of  Southern  oratory. 

The  popular  fondness  for  oratory  in  the  Old  South 
amounted  almost  to  a  passion.  Not  only  the  hust- 
ings, but  the  bench,  the  bar,  and  the  pulpit  were 
arenas  for  the  constant  display  of  oratorical  power. 
Every  court  week  was  a  holiday,  during  which  people 
flocked  daily  to  the  courthouse  from  the  four  quar- 
ters of  the  county,  to  hear  the  judge's  charge  and 
the  lawyers'  speeches.  One  day  of  each  court  week, 
even  in  years  when  there  were  no  elections  or  political 
campaigns,  was  given  over  to  political  speaking. 
Regular  political  campaigns  lasted  five  or  six  months, 
with  daily  combats  of  oratory  between  all  the  rival 
candidates.     On  Sundays  the  entire  population,  at- 

18 


EARLY  EDUCATION  19 

traded  by  pulpit  oratory,  flocked  to  church.  In 
rural  churches  service  lasted  all  day,  with  two  or 
more  sermons  each  an  hour  long  and  delivered  with 
vigor,  zeal,  and  occasional  eloquence.  *Forty- 
parson  power '  was  no  figure  of  speech  in  a  Southern 
rural  pulpit.  The  demand  for  orators  in  the  Old 
South  was  unlimited,  and  the  supply  was  equal  to 
the  demand.  It  was  furnished  by  the  educational 
system,  which  made  the  South  a  land  of  talkers, 
debaters,  orators,  and  statesmen,  of  high  and  low 
degree. 

The  elementary  schools  had  given  Tompkins  a 
surfeit  of  debate  and  oratory.  His  joy  was  the  joy 
of  work,  his  chief  abhorrence  was  a  war  of  words. 
And  now  in  a  select  company  of  youth  who  sought 
higher  education,  not  as  preparation  for  life  but  as 
the  equipment  of  a  gentleman,  he  entered  the  Uni- 
versity of  South  Carolina.  He  found  a  noble  nur- 
sery of  character  and  manhood,  a  perfect  fruition 
of  Southern  ideals.  There  was  an  air  of  freedom 
about  the  university  that  nurtured  men.  Its  presi- 
dents had  all  been  marked  by  strong  individuality 
and  breadth  of  view.  They  represented  the  most 
divergent  and  extreme  views  of  life :  Jonathan  Maxcy , 
Baptist  preacher;  Thomas  Cooper,  English  radical 
and  free  thinker;  Thornwell,  rigid  Calvinist;  Barnwell, 
low  church  Episcopalian;  Longstreet,  Methodist 
preacher  and  author  of  "Georgia  Scenes,"  and  later 
James  Woodrow,  modern  Calvinist  and  Darwinian. 
It  may  be  doubted  whether  toleration  of  opinion 
in  a  state  educational  institution  was  ever  carried 
further  than  in  the  University  of  South  Carolina. 

The  students  of  the  university  were  greatly 
influenced  by  this  spirit  of  freedom,  not  toward 
belief  or  disbelief   but   toward  manliness  and  inde- 


20  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

pendence  of  belief  and  of  character.  Professor 
Joseph  Le  Conte,  whose  experience  as  college  pro- 
fessor in  South  Carolina  and  elsewhere  extends 
through  half  a  century,  was  filled  with  admiration 
for  the  South  Carolina  students.  He  writes  of  them 
as  follows  in  his  delightful  autobiography:  "I  have 
said  that  the  students  of  the  South  Carolina  College 
were  high-spirited  though  turbulent.  I  should  add 
that  I  had  never  previously  seen  (nor  have  I  since) 
so  high  a  sense  of  honor  among  students  in  their 
relation  to  one  another  and  to  the  faculty.  No  form 
of  untruthfulness  among  themselves  or  toward  the 
faculty  (such,  for  example,  as  cheating  at  examina- 
tions) was  for  a  moment  tolerated.  Any  student 
suspected  of  such  practices  was  cut  by  his  fellow 
students  and  compelled  to  leave.  When  a  student 
was  brought  up  before  the  faculty  for  any  offence, 
no  other  question  was  asked  but,  *Did  you  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  this  affair?'  The  answer  was 
*Yes'  or  *No';  and  he  was  condemned  or  acquitted  on 
his  own  statement.  Sometimes  a  student  might, 
on  some  technical  ground,  refuse  to  answer,  but  no 
one  ever  lied.** 

The  spirit  of  freedom  and  manliness  thus  highly 
developed  in  the  University  of  South  Carolina  was 
characteristic  of  Southern  life.  It  was  the  pride 
of  the  South  and  the  admiration  of  her  critics.  One 
of  the  ablest  of  Northern  statesmen,  Hon.  George 
Francis  Hoar,  an  early  abolitionist  and  a  lifelong 
political  foe  of  the  South,  bore  generous  testimony 
to  the  virtues  begotten  of  this  spirit:  "Southern  men 
were  unsurpassed  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  in 
courage,  spirit,  hospitality,  and  generosity  to  their 
equals.  They  were  apt  to  command  and  apt  to 
succeed.     They    were    able    politicians.     With    the 


EARLY  EDUCATION  21 

love  and  habit  of  truth,  which  becomes  brave  men  in 
all  common  concerns,  they  were  subtle  and  skilful 
diplomatists  when  diplomacy  was  needed  to  accom- 
plish any  political  end."  Twenty -five  years  later, 
in  his  delightful  autobiography,  after  longer  and 
fuller  experience,  he  repeats  and  strengthens  this 
testimony : 

"My  long  conflict  with  their  leaders  has  impressed 
me  with  an  ever-increasing  admiration  of  the  great 
and  high  qualities  of  our  Southern  people.  Their 
love  of  home;  their  chivalrous  respect  for  woman; 
their  courage;  their  delicate  sense  of  honor,  their 
constancy,  which  can  abide  by  an  opinion,  or  a  pur- 
pose, or  an  interest  of  their  states,  through  adversity 
and  through  prosperity,  through  the  years  and 
through  the  generations,  are  things  by  which  the 
people  of  the  more  mercurial  North  may  take  a  lesson. 
And  there  is  another  thing — covetousness,  corrup- 
tion, the  low  temptation  of  money  has  not  yet  found 
any  place  in  our  Southern  politics." 

The  leaders  of  the  Old  South  were  indeed  men  of 
courage  and  character.  Many  of  them  were  nur- 
tured in  the  University  of  South  Carolina,  for  South 
Carolina  was  the  heart  of  the  South.  Its  strength 
and  its  weakness  was  individualism.  Like  ancient 
Attica,  South  Carolina  cultivated  and  honored 
to  the  highest  degree  her  favorite  sons  of  genius, 
while  neglecting  the  great  mass  of  toiling  humanity. 
The  result  was  a  constellation  of  stars  that  shone  with 
rare  brilliance  in  the  political  firmament  and  long 
guided  the  destinies  of  the  South,  but  set  finally 
in  the  dark  and  stormy  sea  of  social  and  political 
revolution. 

In  the  University  of  South  Carolina  Tompkins  re- 
ceived  excellent   training   from    accomplished   and 


22  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

gifted  teachers.  He  was  interested  in  several  studies 
and  proficient  in  all.  He  preserved  for  forty  years 
among  his  private  papers  as  valued  treasures  his 
lecture  notes  on  geology  under  Joseph  Le  Conte,  on 
natural  philosophy  under  John  Le  Conte,  on  polit- 
ical econom}^  and  history  under  President  Barnwell, 
on  mathematics  and  engineering  under  General 
Alexander.  He  faithfully  utilized  all  the  opportun- 
ities of  the  university,  not  only  in  classrooms  but 
in  college  life,  taking  an  active  part  in  social  pleasures, 
athletic  sports,  college  politics,  and  even  in  the  much- 
abhorred  literary  society  exercises. 

But  his  heart  was  not  in  the  work  of  the  university. 
He  longed  for  knowledge  of  life,  for  active  participa- 
tion in  the  stirring,  striving  life  of  the  world  around 
him.  He  saw  his  native  State  stricken  and  im- 
poverished, its  wealth  destroyed,  its  industrial  sys- 
tem disorganized,  its  future  dark  and  uncertain. 
With  fine  penetration  and  rare  vision  he  perceived 
that  the  need  of  his  beloved  South  was  not  oratory 
and  debate,  but  skilled  labor  and  machinery,  not 
political  power,  but  the  development  of  material 
resources.  In  these  views  and  feelings  he  was 
cheered  and  encouraged  by  his  professor  of  engineer- 
ing and  mathematics.  General  E.  P.  Alexander,  a 
son  of  the  Old  South,  a  veteran  of  the  Civil  War,  and 
a  prophet  of  the  New  South. 

"The  first  important  influence  in  directing  my 
life,"  he  writes  in  his  memoirs,  "came  from  General 
E.  P.  Alexander,  while  I  was  a  student  in  the  South 
Carolina  University.  He  was  the  professor  in  mathe- 
matics and  engineering;  and,  while  I  was  under  his 
instruction,  our  personal  relations  became  closer 
than  that  of  professor  and  student,  by  a  sort  of  grav- 
ity, as  it  were.     I  had  a  bent  for  industrial  develop- 


EARLY  EDUCATION  23 

ment,  and  he  was  the  first  person  I  had  ever  met  who 
had  any  sympathy  with  my  aspirations.  I  was  very 
fond  of  construction;  and  he,  as  a  graduate  of  West 
Point,  had  been  an  important  constructing  engineer 
before  and  during  the  war.  In  talking  over  with  me 
my  hopes  and  expectations,  he  advised  me  to  seek  a 
technical  education  as  a  civil  engineer,  and  to  learn 
a  trade  also  while  studying  to  be  an  engineer.  He 
recommended  to  me  the  Rensselaer  Polytechnic 
Institute,  at  Troy,  New  York." 

General  Alexander  was  a  man  of  marked  ability 
and  versatility.  His  colleague,  Joseph  Le  Conte, 
says  of  him  in  his  charming  autobiography:  "Pro- 
fessor Alexander,  who  had  been  Chief  Engineer  in 
Lee's  Army,  was  a  hearty,  whole-souled,  enthusiastic 
friend  and  companion  and  a  kind  of  genius  in  math- 
ematics and  especially  in  engineering."  He  was  not 
only  a  mathematician  and  engineer  but  also  an  Eng- 
lish scholar  and  versatile  writer.  Above  all,  he  was  a 
capable  man  of  affairs  with  fine  executive  talents. 
He  was  soon  called  from  the  university  into  the  ac- 
tive life  of  the  business  world.  General  Alexander 
found  a  congenial  spirit  in  Daniel  A.  Tompkins,  and 
loved  him  as  a  brother.  "If  you  get  down  as  far 
South  as  this,"  he  wrote  Tompkins  from  Alabama  in 
1878,  "be  sure  and  stop  and  see  me — for  you  are 
one  of  the  scholars  I  was  proud  of,  and  I  always  re- 
member you  with  very  great  pleasure."  Their 
friendship  was  kept  up  by  correspondence  until 
Alexander's  death. 

Following  the  advice  of  General  Alexander, 
Tompkins  was  enrolled  in  the  summer  of  1869  as  a 
student  in  the  Rensselaer  Polytechnic  Institute  at 
Troy,  New  York.  It  was  a  long  step  from  a  South- 
ern literary  college  to  a  Northern  school  of  technology, 


24  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

from  a  South  Carolina  cotton  plantation  to  a  New 
York  manufacturing  city.  But  the  spirit  of  the 
institute  and  the  spirit  of  the  city  was  also  the  spirit 
of  Tompkins.  He  rejoiced  to  find  halls  for  draft- 
ing and  designing  instead  of  literary  societies  for  de- 
bate and  oratory ;  to  see  displayed  on  the  college  walls 
not  portraits  of  politicians  but  sketches  of  bridges, 
engines,  and  buildings;  to  hear  discussions  about 
power  and  machinery  instead  of  debates  on  secession 
and  state's  rights.  Not  a  student  in  the  institute 
was  expecting  to  be  an  orator  or  a  statesman.  No- 
body was  there  from  fashion  nor  for  gentility.  Every- 
one had  come  for  work.  The  Lares  and  Penates  of 
the  institute  were  not  Calhoun,  Hayne,  andMcDuffie, 
but  Newton,  Watt,  Stevenson,  Franklin,  and  Roeb- 
ling. 

From  the  very  start  Tompkins  took  rank  among 
the  best  students.  He  not  only  did  the  work  but 
enjoyed  it;  and  by  his  character,  conduct,  and  super- 
ior work  made  impressions  upon  his  college  mates 
which  remained  fresh  and  strong  for  half  a  century. 

"As  I  recall  the  long-ago  days  at  Troy,"  writes 
one  of  his  classmates,  "I  see  Tompkins  as  a  bright 
and  clean  fellow,  for  whom  we  had  always  high  re- 
spect. He  was  among  the  best  scholars  in  the  class, 
his  percentage  ranking  among  the  highest.  As  a 
draftsman  he  excelled  all  his  classmates.  Al- 
though quiet  and  reserved  in  his  manners,  he 
displayed  a  strong  character,  having  his  likes  and 
dislikes,  but  was  always  gentlemanly  and  courteous. 
Being  older  than  I,  he  advised  and  assisted  me  in  my 
studies,  for  which  I  have  never  forgotten  him." 

"I  was  Tompkins*  roommate  a  couple  of  years  at 
Troy,"  writes  another.  "While  cordial  and  consider- 
ate,   he    was   generally    quite    reserved.     His    self- 


EARLY  EDUCATION  25 

reliance  was  unusual  for  his  age.  He  was  absolutely 
honest  in  his  conversation,  without  fear  of  any  kind, 
and  very  independent,  so  far  as  the  usual  student 
customs  and  traditions  were  concerned.  He  be- 
longed to  no  secret  society,  but  was  elected  Grand 
Marshal  in  his  junior  year,  an  honor  always  before 
carried  off  by  secret  society  men.  His  means  were 
apparently  limited,  but  he  always  kept  up  his  end 
whenever  he  joined  in  any  student  frolics.  I  do  not 
remember  his  using  tobacco,  and  he  was  very  sparing 
of  intoxicants,  a  little  beer  being  his  limit.  He 
showed  strong,  determined,  honest  character,  a  little 
high  strung  and  sensitive.  He  was  generally  fair  in 
his  judgments,  but  with  little  patience  for  what  we 
now  call  dudes,  and  none  for  mollycoddles.  He  was 
a  clean,  high-toned  fellow,  of  strong,  manly  character. 
I  recall  his  punching  a  masher  who  tried  to  flirt  with 
a  lady  friend,  who  resented  the  liberty  and  told 
Tommy  of  it." 

"We  lived  in  the  same  boarding  house  and  on  the 
same  floor,'*  writes  H.  B.  Binsse.  "I  saw  him  nearly 
every  day  for  three  years.  We  became  fast  friends, 
as  I  was  greatly  drawn  by  his  manly,  dignified,  up- 
right character.  His  character  was  unusually  at- 
tractive. He  was  straightforward  and  frank,  but 
never  offered  opinions  which  he  knew  would  be  dis- 
agreeable. His  conversation  was  always  delightful, 
for  he  was  full  of  original  points  of  view.  He  was  a 
born  leader.  He  had  perfect  self-confidence  with  a 
clear,  well-poised  mind,  very  keen  perception  of 
character,  and  great  breadth  of  view.  When  he  was 
graduated,  he  was  regarded  as  the  most  promising 
man  in  his  class." 

The  instruction  in  the  Rensselaer  Polytechnic  In- 
stitute did  not  at  that  time  include  practical  work  in 


?6  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

mechanical  and  electrical  engineering.     These  depart- 
ments were  not  equipped  with  shops  or  laboratories. 
The    instruction    was    not    satisfactory    to    Tomp- 
kins, who  thought  that  a  complete  education  should 
combine  practice  and  theory.     On  his  father's  plan- 
tation he  had  learned  the  value  of  practical  work  in 
the  blacksmith  and  carpenter  shops,  in  the  gin  and 
compress  houses,  as  well  as  in  the  planting  and  har- 
vesting of  the  cotton  crop.     He  had  always  been  a 
practical  worker;  and  now,  as  a  student  of  the  in- 
stitute, he  was  not  content  with  theoretical  knowledge 
of    mechanical    engineering.     With    fine    resolution 
and  wisdom  he  obtained  for  himself  in  the  city  the 
practical  instruction  which  he  could  not  get  in  the 
college.     During    his    entire  college  course  of  four 
years  he  was  at  work  every  Saturday  and  all  the 
vacations  in  the  mills  and  machine  shops  of  Troy. 
** During  the  long  summer  vacation  of  1870,"  writes 
his  college  mate,  N.  B.  Kellogg,  "Tompkins  and  I 
were  the  only  students  of  the  institute  who  remained 
in   Troy   for   the   summer,   except   resident   pupils. 
He  secured  employment  in  the  Bessemer  Iron  Works, 
while  I  was  assistant  to  one  of  the  professors  in  his 
city  work.     Tompkins  did  this  work,  not  for  the 
purpose  of  getting  money,  but  more  for  practical 
experience.     He  went  in  as  a  working  hand  to  be- 
come familiar  with  the  operating  of  the  Bessemer 
plants.     I  remember  hearing  that  he  then  developed 
the  plates  for  a  *converter'  for  the  first  time,  they 
having  been  cut  by  trying  and  fitting  until  then, 
especially  the  curve  of  intersection  of  cylinder  and 
oblique  cone  at  the  top.     This  was  no  great  engin- 
eering achievement,  of  course;  but  no  one  had  thought 
of  doing  it  before,  and  no  one  thought  of  doing  any- 
thing else  afterward." 


EARLY  EDUCATION  27 

Although  busy  with  books  and  work,  Tompkins 
found  time  for  enjoying  the  usual  pleasures  of  college 
life.  He  was  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Tripod  and 
member  of  the  boat  club.  His  personality  was  quiet 
but  attractive,  and  secured  for  him  the  highest  honor 
within  the  gift  of  his  fellow  students,  election  as 
Grand  Marshal  of  the  college.  "I  have  a  special 
reason  to  remember  Tompkins,''  writes  his  class- 
mate, Charles  Campbell,  "for  he  defeated  me  for 
Grand  Marshal,  an  oflfice  in  which  he  represented 
the  whole  student  body,  the  highest  office  within 
their  gift.  He  represented  them  in  all  conferences 
with  the  President  or  Faculty,  or  with  the  Mayor 
of  the  City,  in  organizing  and  leading  processions 
and  festivities  on  public  occasions,  and  by  presiding 
at  all  meetings  of  the  entire  student  body.  He  de- 
serves great  credit  for  the  honor.  I  coveted  the 
office  with  a  youthful  ambition  from  the  day  of  my 
registration.  Tompkins  was  a  calm  and  judicial- 
minded  man,  an  unpretentious  and  hardworking 
student,  plain  in  dress  and  address,  not  taking  a 
prominent  part  in  athletics.  His  recreations  were  of 
the  best  and  simplest  nature.  He  was  there  for 
business  and  not  for  pleasure." 

There  is  something  picturesque,  almost  pathetic, 
in  this  incident  of  a  Northern  student  body  selecting 
for  their  leader  the  son  of  a  Confederate  soldier  and 
slaveholder.  The  students  gave  it  especial  emphasis 
by  presenting  Tompkins  with  a  gold-headed  cane, 
inscribed,  "R.  P.  I. — To  D.  Augustus  Tompkins, 
from  the  Students— Grand  Marshal— May  30, 1873." 
He  preserved  the  cane,  and  bequeathed  it  as  an 
heirloom  to  his  brother. 

While  engaged  in  vacation  work  Tompkins  made 
the  acquaintance  of  Augustus  L.  Holley,  an  engineer 


28  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

of  rare  talents  and  character.  For  the  second  time 
in  his  career  he  was  brought  into  close  contact  with  a 
large-minded  friend,  capable  of  recognizing  talent  and 
generous  in  inspiring  youthful  ambition.  "Before 
my  course  was  finished  in  the  institute,"  he  says  in 
his  memoirs,  "I  fell  in  with  Mr.  A.  L.  Holley.  He 
was  a  young  engineer  who  was  introducing  the 
Bessemer  process  into  this  country.  Youthful  as  I 
was,  I  recognized  in  him  a  man  of  ability.  I  did 
considerable  work  for  him  tracing  drawings  during 
my  vacations.  He  also  gave  me  work  to  do  in  my 
room  while  I  was  attending  the  institute.  Through 
his  influence,  too,  I  secured  work  during  my  spare 
time  at  Toly'  in  the  John  A.  Griswold  &  Company's 
Steel  Works  of  Troy,  where  I  took  a  course  of  ap- 
prentice and  machine  shop."  Mr.  Holley  was  at 
this  time  and  until  his  death  a  trustee  of  the  in- 
stitute. In  1875  he  became  president  of  the  Amer- 
ican Institute  of  Mining  Engineers  and  member 
of  the  Government  Board  for  testing  structural 
material. 

Upon  graduation  from  the  institute  Tompkins 
was  invited  by  Holley  to  become  draftsman  and 
private  secretary  in  his  office  in  Brooklyn,  New  York. 
The  invitation  was  accepted,  and  the  friendly  rela- 
tionship formed  during  college  days  was  continued 
a  year  longer,  with  satisfaction  to  Holley  and  inspira- 
tion for  Tompkins.  "My  service  under  Holley  has 
always  been  of  immense  value  to  me,"  says  Tompkins 
in  his  memoirs.  "He  was  a  man  of  remarkable 
ability  and  extraordinary  amiability."  The  follow- 
ing testimonial,  written  at  this  time  by  Holley,  was 
carefully  preserved  by  Tompkins  among  the  treas- 
ures of  his  early  life:  "Mr.  D.  A.  Tompkins,  a  grad- 
uate of  the  Rensselaer  Institute,  has  been  employed 


EARLY  EDUCATION  29 

by  me  as  draftsman,  and  in  working  up  machinery 
designs,  for  more  than  a  year;  and  I  part  with  his 
services  now  only  on  account  of  my  proposed  ab- 
sence from  the  country.  I  take  pleasure  in  stating 
that  Mr.  Tompkins  has  proved  himself  to  be  an 
accurate  and  a  remarkably  rapid  draftsman;  and 
that  his  industry  and  fidelity,  as  well  as  his  technical 
knowledge,  fit  him  to  be  a  valuable  assistant  in  any 
engineering  work." 

Before  leaving  America  Mr.  HoUey  interested  him- 
self to  secure  for  Tompkins  employment  in  the 
Bethlehem  Iron  Works  under  John  Fritz.  It  was 
time  for  a  change.  Although  pleasantly  situated, 
Tompkins  was  getting  restless  under  the  monotony 
of  the  drawing  room,  was  eager  for  active  work,  was 
anxious  to  be  making,  producing,  creating  something 
real  and  tangible.  In  a  letter  to  his  friend  and  class- 
mate, Walbridge,  written  near  the  end  of  his  year  in 
Brooklyn,  he  says:  "My  work  here  is  pleasant,  but 
not  in  the  right  direction.  I  am  fixed  in  my  deter- 
mination to  work  out  a  career  in  iron;  and  I  shall  do 
this,  even  if  I  have  to  renounce  all  claims  upon  the 
men  who  have  already  succeeded,  and  work  my  own 
way  up  from  a  one-horse  blacksmith  shop."  With 
this  purpose  he  was  glad  to  leave  Brooklyn  and  to 
be  enrolled  as  a  workman  under  John  Fritz  with  the 
Bethlehem  Iron  Company. 

But  this  year  in  Brooklyn  was  not  given  entirely 
to  work.  Social  life  attracted  him  very  strongly. 
Invitations  were  frequent,  to  and  from  college  mates 
and  other  friends,  for  dinner,  theatres,  excursions, 
and  other  pleasures.  His  social  instincts  were 
strong  and  well  developed.  The  hospitality  of  his 
father's  home  had  always  been  large  and  generous. 
It  had  become  a  part  of  his  nature.     "Come  over 


30  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOI  TIT 

to-morrow  about  five  o'clock.  We  will  see  Mr. 
Holley,  dine  at  my  house,  and  go  to  theatre,"  he 
writes  Binsse.  "I  would  be  glad  to  have  you  come 
over  some  evening,  and  go  to  the  theatre  with  me, 
and  spend  the  night,  if  possible.  I  think  I  might  be 
able  to  make  it  a  pleasant  evening  for  you;  and  it 
certainly  would  be  a  great  pleasure  for  me  to  have 
you" — to  another  classmate.  He  takes  Christmas 
dinner  with  Frith,  spends  Sunday  with  Binsse  at 
Long  Branch,  goes  to  churches,  theatres,  museums, 
art  exhibits,  and  libraries,  as  well  as  shops,  mills, 
and  factories.  Everywhere  he  is  observant  and 
thoughtful.  His  faculties  are  alert;  his  mind  open 
and  receptive.  His  letters  to  home  folks  are  readable 
and  suggestive,  clear-cut  and  natural  in  style,  as 
well  as  instructive  and  entertaining.  The  following 
illustrates  his  mental  habits:  "New  York  is  all  ablaze 
with  Christmas  presents  and  preparations  for  the 
usual  festivities  on  New  Year's.  Everybody  gives 
and  everybody  expects  to  receive  presents;  and  there 
is  a  sort  of  general  rejoicing  and  calculating  whether 
the  sum  total  of  presents  received  is  greater  than 
that  of  presents  given.  I  am,  of  course,  a  silent  and 
watchful  observer,  expecting  neither  to  give  nor  to  re- 
ceive. I  have  lately  been  to  an  artists'  reception. 
Before  telling  about  it,  I  will  tell  what  an  artists' 
reception  is.  There  is  an  association  of  the  artists 
in  Brooklyn,  and  amongst  the  number  are  many 
who  make  good  pictures.  Once  a  year  they  collect 
together  all  their  pictures  and  have  an  exhibition 
and  reception,  allowing  in  the  meantime  enough 
rich  people,  who  are  not  artists  to  join  and  pay  the 
expenses.  They  have  the  Academy  of  Music  floored 
above  the  chairs  and  richly  carpeted,  in  order  to 
make  a  nice  promenade.     A  door  has  been  cut  be- 


EARLY  EDUCATION  31 

tween  the  Academy  and  the  art  room,  which  is  the 
next  building  to  the  Academy,  so  that  it  is  all  made 
into  one  grand  suite  of  rooms.  The  art  rooms  are 
lined  with  pictures,  the  Academy  richly  ornamented 
with  flowers,  and  everybody  who  can  possibly  get 
a  ticket,  goes.  The  tickets  are  given  away  only  by 
the  artists.  I  was  given  two  by  an  artist  who  was 
pleased  with  having  heard  that  I  had  spoken  very 
highly  of  some  of  his  pictures  in  New  York.  I  am 
much  delighted  that  I  went.  I  looked  at  the  pic- 
tures and  saw  the  promenaders  from  the  gallery  of 
the  theatre.  I  never  saw  such  magnificently  dressed 
women,  fine  music,  and  beautiful  flowers  and  pictures 
in  my  life.  It  was  a  sort  of  realization  of  an  artist's 
dream  of  life.  But  the  greatest  of  all  the  New  York 
wonders  is  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  The  originality 
of  his  sermons  is  something  I  have  been  more  sur- 
prised at  than  anything  I  have  heard  since  I  came 
here." 

While  employed  by  Holley  and  residing  in  Brook- 
lyn Tompkins  formed  the  acquaintance  and  friend- 
ship of  a  refined,  cultured,  and  once  wealthy  family, 
whom  he  delighted  to  visit.  His  amusing  tales  of 
boarding-house  discomforts,  his  manifest  love  of 
home  life,  his  strong  character  and  marked  personal- 
ity induced  them  to  accept  him  as  a  member  of  their 
household.  Here  began  a  friendship  of  two  congenial 
souls,  ripening  into  the  deepest  love,  whose  fruition 
was  prevented  by  the  early  invalidism  and  un- 
timely death  of  his  beloved.  For  ten  years  he  poured 
out  his  soul  to  her  in  letters  that  mirrored  his  daily 
life  and  thoughts.  After  her  death  these  letters  were 
returned  to  him;  and  after  his  death  they  were  found 
among  his  private  papers,  folded  and  sealed  with  hers, 
witnesses  of  hopes   and  longings  that  were  never 


32  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

realized.  Extracts  from  those  letters  are  given  in 
the  following  pages,  revealing  in  distant  glimpses  the 
warm  and  tender  heart  of  a  man  apparently  cold 
and  reserved,  unlocking  the  inner  doors  of  a  life 
through  which,  thereafter,  few  if  any  ever  entered. 


CHAPTER  III 

APPRENTICESHIP   IN   THE   BETHLEHEM   IRON 

WORKS — ^JOHN     FRITZ CHARACTER 

DEVELOPMENT 

HIS  life  with  the  Bethlehem  Iron  Works  is 
mirrored  by  Tompkins  in  letters  to  his  be- 
loved, which  present  not  only  a  record  of  his 
work  but  an  interesting  picture  of  character  devel- 
opment. 

The  Bethlehem  Iron  Works  was  at  this  time  the 
chief  steelmaking  plant  in  America.  It  was  under 
the  management  of  John  Fritz,  America's  foremost 
iron  master,  a  sturdy,  rugged,  inventive,  self-made 
German.  As  a  young  apprentice  Tompkins  came  to 
Fritz  almost  with  reverence,  presently  he  inspected 
hun  and  examined  him  with  cool  and  critical  independ- 
ence, finally  he  estimated  and  valued  hun  with  just 
judgment  and  grateful  appreciation.  His  appren- 
ticeship in  the  mills  was  spent  during  a  long  period 
of  commercial  and  financial  depression  throughout 
the  business  world,  a  period  wherein  many  businesses 
perished  and  few  expanded. 

"I  arrived  in  Bethlehem  yesterday  and  saw  Mr 
Fritz.  He  has  given  me  employment  at  $75.00 
a  month." 

**I  am  very  fairly  started  at  my  work,  which 
so  far    has    pleased    me    very    much.    Mr.    Fritz 

33 


34  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

has    me    working    on    a    design    for    some    new 
engines." 


"I  have  a  feeling  that  I  ought  to  persist  in  being 
absolutely  punctual  at  my  work,  until  I  shall  have 
something  to  identify  me  with  the  work.  For  in- 
stance, since  I  have  been  here  I  have  been  working  a 
good  deal  on  the  design  of  some  new  engines  which 
Mr.  Fritz  speaks  of  building;  and,  if  he  should  con- 
clude to  build  them,  having  had  most  to  do  with 
the  design,  I  would  naturally  be  depended  upon  to 
keep  everything  straight ;  and  that  dependence  would 
make  for  me  a  sort  of  tie.  I  want  to  have  it  so  that 
when  I  am  away  they  will  miss  me;  and  it  seems  to 
me  the  best  way  to  get  a  start  in  that  direction  is  by 
punctuality  and  a  willingness  always  to  accept  re- 
sponsibilities." 


"I  have  been  reading  the  last  two  nights  a  book 
that  has  afforded  me  the  sort  of  satisfaction  that 
religious  persons  receive  from  the  Bible.  The  book 
is  by  Philip  Gilbert  Hamerton,  and  is  called  *The 
Intellectual  Life.*  He  calls  disinterestedness  the 
highest  quality  of  a  fine  character." 


"  Last  night  I  went  to  see  Davenport  in  "Othello"  at 
Allentown.  I  walked  back  after  the  play,  having 
Frith  with  me  for  company.     It  is  six  miles." 


"Acting  upon  your  suggestion  to  discard  my  old 
clothes  altogether  and  buy  some  that  are  plain  and 
neat  for  the  works,  I  have  purchased  the  cloth  for  a 


APPRENTICESHIP  WITH  JOHN  FRITZ  35 

pair  of  pants,  the  sum  total  of  cost  will  not  exceed 
$3.50;  and  they  are  better  than  you  would  infer  from 
the  price.  The  necessity  of  economy  will  not  allow 
me  to  get  an  outfit  at  once.  The  most  I  can  do  is  to 
look  the  best  I  can  afford. 

"Upon  examination  of  my  feelings  in  the  matter 
of  dress  in  social  life  I  am  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  my  contentment  with  being  ill  dressed  is  not  so 
much  indifference,  after  all.  The  being  without  a 
competency  for  reasonably  good  living  I  have  fre- 
quently lamented,  not  with  thinking  of  the  pleasures 
money  would  afford  but  of  the  embarrassments  and 
privations  it  would  free  me  from.  Of  course  to  be 
able  to  buy  a  book  I  want  and  to  be  able  to  visit  and 
entertain  my  friends  would  be  after  all  pleasures  by 
money ;  but  the  pleasure  I  should  have  would  be  from 
the  company  of  the  friends,  and  not  the  ability  to 
entertain  them.  But  the  being  poorly  dressed  has 
rarely,  under  any  circumstance,  been  a  source  of  any 
embarrassment  to  me;  but,  on  the  contrary,  has  at 
times  been  a  source  of  great  satisfaction. 

"  The  satisfaction  has  come  from  my  having  in  the 
first  place  very  little  money  to  spend  for  clothes. 
I  knew  it  was  either  be  content  with  bad  ones,  or  be 
very  much  cramped — sometimes  not  even  having 
this  last  alternative.  Secondly,  my  bad  clothes  have 
been  for  me  a  thermometer,  as  it  were,  by  which  I 
have  been  able  to  arrive  at  a  more  just  estimate 
of  the  characters  of  various  persons  I  have  met.  I 
desire  the  opinion  that  is  held  of  me  to  be  on  account 
of  the  permanent  part  of  myself  and  not  on  account 
of  temporary  qualities,  such  as  (the  good  one)  of 
being  well  dressed.  That  is  to  say,  I  want  to  form 
friends  upon  whose  permanence  I  could  rely  under 
any  circumstance;  and  therefore  I  feel  that  I  must 


S6  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

gain  them  by  such  qualities  as  circumstances  cannot 
affect.  Such  a  quaHty  is  self-respect,  such  an  one  is 
disinterestedness,  such  is  fidelity  to  friends — and 
all  that  compose  the  virtues  of  a  noble  and  honor- 
able man." 


"I  told  you  that  Mr.  Fritz  had  me  working  on  a 
design  for  some  new  engines.  It  is  now  determined 
to  build  them,  and  yesterday  the  work  was  fairly 
begun.  The  first  thing  to  be  done  is  to  have  wooden 
*  patterns'  made  of  all  the  parts  that  are  to  be  made 
of  cast  iron.  These  wooden  patterns  are  used  to 
make  the  molds  in  sand  in  which  molten  cast  iron 
is  poured  to  make  the  castings. 

"If  you  are  at  all  interested  in  such  things,  I  will 
explain  something  of  the  different  sorts  of  work  neces- 
sary to  construct  a  machine.  Most  machines  are 
composed  principally  of  cast  iron  and  wrought  iron. 
Your  stove  is  cast  iron.  The  shovel  and  tongs  are 
probably  wrought  iron.  The  first  is  made  by  being 
molten  and  poured  in  a  mold  formed  in  the  sand. 
The  second  is  made  by  a  blacksmith.  The  first  is 
called  a  *  casting',  and  the  shop  and  appurtenances 
where  it  is  made  is  a  *  foundry'.  The  second  is  a 
'forging'  and  is  made  in  the  *  blacksmith  shop.' 

"The  *molder'  (a  man  who  works  in  the  foundry) 
must  have  a  model  or  *  pattern '  of  what  he  intends  to 
mold  in  order  to  make  the  impression  in  the  sand. 
This  'pattern'  is  made  of  wood  and  frequently  re- 
quires great  skill.  The  pattern  for  a  very  orna- 
mental stove  would  require  to  be  made  by  a  very 
skilled  workman.  Therefore,  to  be  able  to  make  a 
machine,  a  *  pattern  maker'  is  necessary  and  a  shop 
for  him  to  work  in. 


APPRENTICESHIP  WITH  JOHN  FRITZ  37 

"Neither  the  blacksmith  nor  molder  can  make 
their  work  look  polished  and  smooth,  the  one  using 
only  a  hammer  and  anvil,  and  the  other  making  his 
mold  in  such  material  as  sand.  Neither  can  they  be 
very  accurate.  To  make  all  the  pieces  accurate  and 
well  fitting,  they  are  given  into  still  another  shop — 
the  ^machine  shop,'  where  the  machinist  with  lathes 
and  planers  and  drill  presses  and  slotters  planes  this 
and  that  side  smooth— turns  this  piece  perfectly 
round,  drills  a  hole  at  this  place  and  that,  and  files 
and  chips  and  whits  away  until  all  the  pieces  are 
exactly  what  is  wanted,  and  then  the  machine  is  put 
together. 

"Thus,  the  castings  commence  with  the  pattern 
maker— then  go  to  the  molder  and  then  to  the 
machinist.  The  forgings  come  from  the  blacksmith 
shop  and  go  to  the  machinist,  also.  With  the  ma- 
chinist, they  are  all  finished  and  put  together. 

"The  parts  of  the  engine  I  have  designed  are  now 
in  the  hands  of  the  pattern  makers  and  blacksmiths. 
It  is  gratifying,  because  it  is  the  first  work  of  very 
considerable  importance  I  have  been  given  to  do. 
They  are  what  are  called  compound  engines  and  have 
not  been  much  built,  so  it  is  a  sort  of  new  thing.  I 
will  not  bore  you  with  a  scientific  explanation  of  the 
engine  unless  you  show  sufficient  interest.  Some 
of  the  patterns  for  the  engine  are  nearly  done  and 
to-morrow  will  be  carried  to  the  foundry,  where  the 
molds  for  the  castings  are  made." 

"My  room  affords  me  more  and  more  pleasure  with 
each  dav.     You  can't  magine  what  an  improvement 


38  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

it  is  over  the  ordinary  house  to  have  a  nice  room 
with  one's  own  things  in  it,  and  it  really  makes  quite 
a  homelike  sort  of  place  for  me.  I  haven't  that 
feeling  of  living  nowhere;  and  it  is  particularly  de- 
sirable now;  for  I  was  forever  spoiled  in  Brooklyn 
about  living  in  boarding  houses.  Before  I  came  with 
you,  I  knew  nothing  better,  I  was  hardened  to  it. 
And  it  is  wonderful  what  pleasure  I  have  from  the 
auxiliary  nice  things  sent  with  the  furniture." 


"  I  have  invited  Walbridge  to  visit  me,  and  I  have 
heard  that  he  intends  to  accept  the  invitation  very 
soon.  Should  he  do  so,  the  visit  will  be  a  great  pleas- 
ure to  mer  and  my  nice  double  bed  will  make  me 
able  to  keep  him  in  my  room  instead  of  having  to 
send  him  to  the  hotel.  And  to  be  able  to  entertain 
him  myself  will  be  very  nice.  I  felt  mortified  when 
Binsse  came  to  see  me  that  I  couldn't  entertain  him 
entirely  myself." 


"Walbridge  is  here  visiting  me,  and  I  am  much 
pleased.  Yesterday  (Sunday)  morning  I  took  him 
to  the  works,  stopping  on  the  way  at  a  little  flower 
garden,  the  owner  of  which  I  have  made  an  acquaint- 
ance with." 


"To-day  nearly  all  the  officers  wanted  to  go  to 
the  State  and  County  Fairs  holding  respectively  at 
Easton  and  Allentown.  On  such  occasions  my  ad- 
herence to  work  is  always  more  pleasure  to  me  than 
a  country  fair  could  possibly  be." 


APPRENTICESHIP  WITH  JOHN  FRITZ  89 

"You  mustn't  imagine  I  am  working  and  overtax- 
ing myself.  This  voluntary  work  I  have  been  doing, 
for  example,  is  the  working  out  theoretically  what 
was  intended  to  be  done  practically;  and  it  is  there- 
fore of  no  special  use,  except  that  it  is  pleasant  to  be 
able  to  answer  questions  about  the  result.  It  pleases 
Mr.  Fritz  to  see  that  I  am  taking  an  interest  in  this 
work,  and  it  is  easy  to  keep  up  an  interest  in  my  work 
when  I  keep  it  up  at  the  same  time  as  a  study." 


I  am  reading  George  Eliot's  *  Silas  Marner'." 


"I  spent  the  evening  doing  some  work  for  Mr. 
Holley.  He  had  written  me  to  send  him  a  drawing 
of  a  small  piece  of  machinery;  and  I  made  the  draw- 
ing in  the  evenings.  Extra  work  I  want  to  do — 
like  reading  this  or  that  book,  getting  a  drawing 
of  this  or  that  to  keep  for  reference — usually  fills  up 
my  evenings.     The  time  seems  fairly  to  fly  by." 


"So  despicably  poor  is  the  iron  trade  come  that 
these  works  are  speaking  of  making  another  reduc- 
tion of  ten  per  cent,  upon  all  wages  and  salaries.  This 
is  exceedingly  disheartening,  but  to  think  of  giving 
up  would  be  the  worst  possible  thing  now.  But  I 
have  foregone  all  immediate  prospects  so  long  that 
it  seems  sort  of  hard  fortune  to  have  the  prospects 
decline  in  my  own  path,  just  as  I  was  beginning 
to  reach  a  fair  starting  point." 

*'  Because  I  tell  you  so  much  I  want  to  be  economi- 
cal, do  not  believe  that  I  love  the  money  or  in  any 


40  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

way  love  to  keep  it.  I  don't  expect  to  become  inde- 
pendent by  saving  money  out  of  my  present  pay, 
but  I  must  learn  the  habit  of  economy  now.  More- 
over, I  do  not  desire  to  have  money  for  the  purpose 
of  keeping  it,  but  for  the  purpose  of  using  it  for  com- 
fort's sake." 


"You  are  to  my  better  self  an  invaluable  mine  from 
which  jewel  after  jewel  is  added  to  my  refinement 
and  my  feeling  and  my  mode  of  thought,  to  make 
them  delightful  to  myself  and  pleasant  to  all  who 
know  me.  You  are  to  me  what  the  sun  is  to  a  flower, 
that  lights  it  up  and  makes  it  beautiful  and  fragrant. 
My  life  until  I  knew  you  was  but  as  the  seedling  of  a 
flower  that  could  become  nothing  beautiful  so  long 
as  it  remains  away  from  the  nourishing  light.  You 
have  already  nourished  this  life  and  given  it  suflBcient 
strength  to  weather  quite  a  stormy  night,  but  it  needs 
your  goodly  rays  on  the  morrow  to  regain  new  strength 
and  keep  it  well,  alive,  and  prosperous.  And  to 
continue  our  metaphor  still  further,  as  the  shades 
and  tints  of  a  flower  can  never  be  seen  by  any  light 
so  well  as  by  that  which  makes  it,  so  the  refinement 
you  have  lent  me  could  never  be  appreciated  so  well 
as  when  I  am  under  your  immediate  influence." 


"I  will  go  into  the  drawing  office  to-morrow.  I 
objected  to  it,  but  did  it  principally  for  appearances, 
since  I  had  as  leave  stay  there  three  months  as  not. 
But  I  did  not  want  them  to  think  I  liked  it,  so  they 
would  not  wonder,  when  I  insist  upon  having  other 
duties  after  the  cold  weather  is  over.  Mr.  Fritz 
said  he  wanted  me  to  go  and  get  the  plans  ready 


APPRENTICESfflP  WITH  JOHN  FRITZ  41 

for  the  work  for  next  spring  and  summer,  while  it 
was  cold  and  the  men  cannot  work  out  of  doors. 
That  seemed  to  hold  out  the  idea  I  should  have  some- 
thing to  do  with  the  work  when  it  was  commenced 
outside.     It  is  two  new  furnaces  he  is  building." 


"The  coal  miners  are  on  a  strike  and  half  our 
works  are  stopped  on  account  of  having  no  coal.  Very 
many  workmen  in  this  region  have  no  work,  and 
many  of  them  go  about  like  vagrants.  There  is  a 
vacant  room  at  the  works  here,  under  some  furnaces 
(which  make  it  warm),  and  in  this  there  are  tenanted 
about  fifty  that  have  collected  from  the  country 
around.  They  live  there  and  buy  what  they  eat. 
One  would  imagine  them  to  be  a  very  forlorn  and 
and  disconsolate  looking  set,  but  on  the  contrary 
there  is  no  crowd  more  jovial.  They  make  speeches, 
have  dances,  play  cards  for  imaginary  wages,  and 
drink  imaginary  whiskey  from  imaginary  glasses 
with  such  toasts  as,  *  Here's  to  the  rich  man  that 
won't  give  us  work — may  he  get  sick  on  Monday — 
get    worse    on    Tuesday — die    on    Wednesday — be 

buried  on  Thursday — go  to  h on  Friday — and 

burn  on  Saturday.'  They  are  very  much  the  same 
sort  of  people  as  the  beggars  in  a  city,  low,  shiftless, 
vulgar,  and  brutal,  who  ask  for  alms  with  a  mean 
scowl  on  the  face.  Of  course,  it  is  the  worst  type 
of  workman  without  work." 


"I  think  if  we  could  get  coal,  things  would  really 
begin  to  brighten  up.  The  coal  trouble  is  attributed 
by  some  to  the  operators  and  by  some  to  the  miners; 
but  in  my  mind  it  is  principally  due  to  the  fact  that 


4«  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

many  of  the  rich  and  controlhng  men  at  present  are 
not  fit  to  control." 


"I  don't  like  the  drawing  room  (where  I  am  now  at 
work).  I  shall  ask  Mr.  Fritz  to  change  me  to  some 
sort  of  other  work  in  the  spring,  about  the  first  of 
April,  and  will  not  stay  where  I  am,  even  if  he  makes 
serious  objections.  I  had  rather  be  idle.  Not  be- 
cause I  mind  work,  but  because  I  don't  like  sedentary 
and  confining  occupation.  I  hoped  when  I  first 
came  here  he  would  take  some  interest  in  me  and  ad- 
vance me  when  he  could  and  advise  me  what  I  should 
do  to  qualify  myself  for  advancement;  but  I  learn  he 
has  always  been  close  with  everyone  and  will  yield 
nothing  except  what  is  positively  demanded.  I  am 
not  very  sorry  for  this,  because  after  all  I  had  rather 
feel  responsible  to  make  an  effort  myself  for  what 
I  want,  than  to  have  to  wait  for  the  action  of  Mr. 
Fritz.  If  he  had  taken  a  positive  interest  in  me 
and  shown  it,  I  should  not  have  felt  responsible 
and  would  have  left  a  good  deal  to  him  I  had 
really  rather  have  in  my  own  hands.  Don't  under- 
stand that  he  don't  allow  me  a  fair  chance. 
He  gives  me  every  advantage,  but  leaves  me 
entirely  to  decide  my  own  course  of  overcoming 
diflficulties." 


"  The  knowledge  of  a  good  reward  at  a  certain  time 
is  one  of  the  greatest  stimulants  to  human  energy 
and  contentment.  For  instance,  I  am  willing  to  soil 
my  hands  and  do  a  great  deal  of  unpleasant  work  and 
do  it  contentedly,  too;  but  my  contentment  comes 
from  the  prospect  that  I  shall  some  day  be  fixed  so 


APPRENTICESHIP  WLTR  JOHN  FRITZ  43 

that  the  work  I  do  is  not  only  pleasant  but  fascinat- 
ing and  useful." 


"I  have  been  troubled  in  my  dealings  with  Mr. 
Fritz.  I  was  worried  with  the  way  he  put  me  off, 
and  when  he  refused  to  give  me  an  audience  at  all, 
it  made  me  exceedingly  indignant,  but  I  said  nothing, 
of  course.  Next  morning  when  I  arrived  at  the 
works  I  found  him  standing  on  the  office  steps  and 
when  I  passed  up  he  said  to  me,  he  had  not  meant 
to  give  me  a  short  answer  the  evening  before,  but 
that  his  manner  was  the  result  of  his  having  been 
much  worried  during  the  afternoon.  In  my  own 
mind,  the  truth  of  the  matter  is,  he  wants  to  make  a 
draftsman  of  me.  If  'tis  true,  he  never  undertook 
a  more  impossible  task  in  his  life.  I  don't  know  yet 
how  I  shall  go  to  him  again.  I  could  let  Mr.  Holley 
see  him,  as  he  offered  to  do;  but  I  think  Fritz  would 
imagine  I  was  afraid  of  him,  and  therefore  Holley 
shan't  do  it." 


"I  have  been  trying  of  late  to  get  together  a  sort 
of  record  of  my  work  that  I  may  keep  for  reference. 
Most  of  to-day  (Sunday)  has  been  employed  with 
this  work." 


"Most  of  my  work  is  in  connection  with  the  new 
blast  furnaces  we  are  putting  up.  A  blast  furnace 
is  simply  a  large  furnace  in  which  coal,  iron  ore,  and 
limestone  are  put  and  kept  ignited.  The  coal  is 
put  in,  to  make  heat  and  to  melt  the  iron  ore  and 
limestone.  The  limestone  does  for  the  pure  iron 
contained  in  the  ore  what  soap  and  water  does  for 


44  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

the  hands;  that  is,  takes  up  and  removes  all  impurities, 
then  the  iron,  being  heaviest,  sinks  to  the  bottom 
of  the  furnace,  and  the  molten  limestone,  containing 
the  impurities,  floats  on  top.  Then,  by  operating  a 
hole,  in  or  near  the  bottom  of  the  furnace,  the  iron 
runs  out.  Of  course  you  will  understand  this  to  be 
not  anything  of  a  scientific  explanation,  but  only  just 
something  to  give  you  an  idea  of  what  a  blast  furnace 
is.  Such  a  general  explanation  makes  it  a  very 
simple  thing,  and  in  reality  there  is  nothing  complex 
about  it;  but  there  are  a  great  multiplicity  of  details 
that  bring  into  requisition  a  very  great  number  of 
mechanical  devices  and  principles. 

"There  must  be  a  blowing  engine,  to  blow  air  into 
the  furnace  to  make  it  burn,  and  pumps,  to  furnish 
water  to  keep  the  parts  near  the  intense  heat  cool — ■ 
there  must  be  a  large  stove  or  oven,  through  which 
the  air  must  pass  to  make  it  hot,  so  it  won't  cool  the 
material  outside — and  boilers  to  generate  steam  for 
the  pumps  and  engines.  All  these  things  are  first 
put  down  on  paper,  and  arranged  and  re-arranged 
until  it  is  thought  to  be  in  the  best  shape.  Then 
wherever  any  strain  or  force  will  come,  it  is  necessary 
to  calculate  what  size  to  make  the  part  to  bear  the 
strain.  The  latter  things  are  the  ones  I  am  princi- 
pally engaged  in  doing.  Mr.  Fritz  tells  me  he  wants  a 
certain  thing  for  a  certain  purpose.  Then  I  go  to 
work,  and  get  up  an  engine  on  paper,  and  let  him 
look  at  it." 


"Were  you  so  bored  with  the  engineering  letter 
that  you  dread  another.'^  Then  you  need  only  write 
me  not  to  write  about  machinery  and  grease.'* 


APPRENTICESHIP  WITH  JOHN  FRITZ  45 

"During  the  week  I  have  been  remarkably  social, 
having  made  two  calls  upon  young  ladies.  The 
visits  were  not  made  with  much  expectation  of  en- 
joying myself,  but  I  thought  I  needed  to  rouse  myself 
from  the  monotony  of  working  all  day  and  reading 
all  evening." 


"I  am  reading  at  odd  times  two  books:  one  is 
Paley's  *  Evidences  of  Christianity'  and  the  other, 
Plutarch's  *  Lives.'  I  haven't  much  interest  in  the 
characters  from  a  historical  point  of  view,  but 
Plutarch  enters  very  much  into  the  motives  that 
impelled  men  to  action  and  also  in  the  discipline 
to  which  many  men  subjected  themselves  to  accom- 
plish any  purpose;  and  from  his  accounts  in  this  way 
I  can  draw  many  morals  and  good  maxims  to  govern 
me.  Of  the  biographies  as  history  I  don't  expect  to 
remember  much,  and  don't  know  what  use  I  would 
have  for  it  if  I  did." 


"I  have  been  out  of  doors  all  day  hammering  and 
pulling  and  measuring  about  some  machinery  that 
is  being  put  in  place.  If  I  could  just  get  enough  to 
do  outside  to  occupy  me  about  three  fourths  of  the 
time,  so  that  I  would  have  only  a  quarter  to  spend 
at  drawing,  it  would  be  delightful.  And  by  degrees 
I  hope  to  get  it  just  as  I  want  it." 


"I  had  resolved  upon  trying  to  get  Mr.  Fritz  to 
increase  my  pay;  and  to-day  a  notice  was  put  upon 
the  front  of  the  office  saying  another  reduction  of 
from  5  to  20  per  cent,  would  be  made  in  all  wages 


46  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

and  salaries  the  first  of  Sept.  With  this  excuse  to 
put  me  off  I  am  sure  it  would  be  utterly  useless  to  go, 
and  would  only  weaken  any  future  effort.  While  I 
feel  fretful  and  despondent,  I  am  not  despondent  in 
thinking  of  my  work.  Sadness  or  disappointment 
does  not  unman  me,  as  I  have  seen  it  do  in  some  in- 
stances. My  resolution  to  push  firmly  forward,  to 
help  myself  and  help  others  where  I  can,  is  always 
firm.  Perhaps  I  may  lose  some  interest  for  a  few 
days,  but  it  comes  back,  and  being  of  this  tempera- 
ment is  a  great  help  to  going  through  any  disappoint- 
ment." 


"I  have  been  reading  for  some  time  a  history  of 
the  French  Revolution,  in  which  I  have  been  much 
interested.  When  it  is  finished,  I  will  take  up  Buckle, 
a  liking  for  whom  I  already  have  from  the  accounts  I 
have  heard." 


"Almost  all  my  time  is  spent  at  the  works;  and  if 
I  had  an  unrestrained  license  to  do  anything  I 
pleased,  'twould  be  really  fascinating.  Every  now 
and  then  I  find  myself  forgetful  of  ambition  and  suc- 
cess and  suchlike  possessions  in  my  interest  in  some 
work  I  sometimes  find  myself  engaged  in.  For 
instance,  the  furnace,  when  it  was  being  finished, 
when  the  gas  was  being  prepared,  the  dampers  put 
in,  the  valves  adjusted,  etc.,  etc.,  to  get  everything 
in  readiness  to  make  a  certain  principle  operate, — 
makes  the  principle,  itself,  fill  my  mind — and  the 
watchfulness  to  know  whether  all  the  conditions  are 
fulfilled  to  make  it  succeed  becomes  altogether  a 
sort  of  game  or  play  that  holds  a  man  in  excitement 


APPRENTICESHIP  WITH  JOHN  FRITZ  47 

until  the  time  is  reached  when  it  is  shown  whether  it 
will  or  will  not  work.  This  furnace  was  very  like 
the  old  furnaces,  so  that,  if  anything  had  been  omitted 
to  make  it  work,  there  were  men  about  who 
could  have  explained  the  difficulty.  But  it  went, 
with  very  little  trouble,  and  is  now  working  all  the 
time." 


"Last  Sunday  I  went  to  Phila.  to  see  the  Centen- 
nial buildings,  not  from  curiosity  or  fashion,  but  to 
see  the  manner  in  which  the  work  on  the  buildings 
was  put  together.  I  could  not  have  seen  it 
after  the  painting  and  frescoing,  etc.,  etc.,  were 
finished." 


"What  a  long  journey  life  must  be  for  people  who 
spend  most  of  it  in  idleness.  I  come  to  this  con- 
clusion because  of  the  quickness  with  which  time 
passes  when  one  is  engaged.  There  is  always  so 
much  that  I  want  to  do  for  myself,  and  I  must  do 
it  in  the  evenings;  and  unless  I  determine  beforehand 
what  shall  be  done  and  in  what  order — otherwise 
rule  out  all  matters  of  inclination — I  find  the  time 
passes  and  nothing  is  done.  I  commenced  with 
this  thought,  because  it  is  the  one  that  is  in 
my  mind  and  was  recommended  by  the  difficulty 
I  have  in  finding  time  to  read  the  Life  of  Theo. 
Parker." 


"The  Society  of  Engineers  in  New  York  have  an 
exhibit  of  working  drawings  of  machinery  in  the 
west    gallery    of    the    Exhibition,    main    building. 


48  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

Amongst  them  is  a  set  of  drawings  of  the  machinery 
here  in  the  Bessemer  Mill  that  I  made  while  I  was 
with  Mr.  Holley.  I  made  all  that  are  there  from 
these  works." 


"Iron  works  must  run  all  the  time  when  they  run 
at  all;  and  for  a  man  to  be  of  much  available  use  it 
is  necessary  to  be  absent  as  little  as  possible,  and 
particularly  for  any  one  desiring  to  grow  more  useful. 
Therefore,  because  I  need  the  advantages  that  con- 
tinuous presence  here  will  help  me  to,  and  because 
T  don't  feel  the  need  of  a  rest,  I  wouldn't  feel  that  I 
was  doing  right  to  take  a  holiday  to-day.     (July  4)." 


"  The  works  here  jog  along  about  the  same.  There 
is  now  one  species  of  comfort,  and  it  is  that  iron  and 
steel  are  lower  in  price  than  they  have  ever  been 
before,  and  they  can't  possibly  get  much  lower,  so 
the  only  change  must  be  for  the  better." 


"I  have  been  for  more  than  ten  days  strongly 
urging  upon  Mr.  Fritz  my  desire  for  other  work  than 
that  of  drawing.  It  has  proved  so  far  useless;  and 
hearing  a  few  days  since  of  a  man  in  Phila.,  who  in- 
tended to  build  a  new  machine  shop,  I  went  to  that 
city  for  the  purpose  of  undertaking  to  get  the  position 
of  running  it.  I  found,  however,  it  was  a  mistake, 
and  that  instead  of  starting  a  shop,  he  intended  to 
shut  up  and  stop  his  foundry. 

"  While,  however,  these  things  are  lamentable,  they 
do  not  worry  me,  for  I  feel  quite  sure  that  the  very 
thing  that  acts  as  a  sort  of  prejudice  in  my  case  is  in 


APPRENTICESHIP  WITH  JOHN  FRITZ  49 

itself  a  source  of  strength,  and  will  increase,  until 
it  brings  the  matter  right  some  day.  There  is  nat- 
urally a  prejudice  on  the  part  of  practical  men  to 
have  educated  men  advanced;  and  since  the  prac- 
tical men  have  everything  in  their  hands,  the  effect 
of  this  advantage  must  be  felt  by  the  pioneer  of 
education,  in  which  position  I  am  unfortunate  enough 
to  be  placed,  if  it  is  a  misfortune;  and  since  R's 
failure  I  have  all  the  taunts  to  carry. 

"Mr.  Fritz  is  away  now  and  has  been  for  a  week; 
and  in  such  times  there  is  always  more  or  less  an- 
noyance, because  he  leaves  no  one  definitely  in  charge 
and  all  of  about  ten  subordinates  vie  with  each  other 
in  carrying  the  air  of  most  authority." 


"I  have  been  very  busy  in  the  drawing  room  all 
day,  and  feel  the  need  of  some  exercise.  The  seden- 
tary character  of  my  work  I  very  much  abhor;  and 
Mr.  Fritz  seems  as  stubborn  as  a  mule  in  resisting 
any  change  in  it.  Not  even  with  an  offer  to  work 
for  less  will  he  give  me  any  satisfaction,  but  avoids 
a  decision  with  a  sort  of  temporary  excuse." 


"  I  have  been  for  a  long  time  wanting  to  get  out  of 
the  drawing  room.  Mr.  Fritz  has  always  found  an 
excuse  to  keep  me  from  making  any  change.  He 
started  last  week  to  Europe.  I  told  him  I  would 
not  stay  in  the  drawing  room  while  he  was  gone. 
He  objected  and  offered  many  excuses,  etc.  He 
knew  of  nothing  he  could  put  me  at.  I  offered  to 
work  as  machinist  at  machinist's  wage.  To  have 
refused  my  offer  at  reduced  pay  would  have  been 
too  evident  perversity;  and  so  he  was  cornered  with 


50  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

my  being  determined  to  use  a  desperate  remedy 
and  bear  the  consequences. 

I  have  been  now  in  the  shop  about  ten  days,  and 
though  of  course  I  don't  enjoy  having  less  pay,  I  do 
feel  a  great  satisfaction  to  have  had  the  strength 
of  will  to  succeed  in  what  I  wanted  to  do,  even  at  a 
sacrifice.  I  don't  know  yet  what  my  pay  will  be, 
but  no  matter  what  it  will  be,  I  am  gaining  an  ex- 
perience I  have  felt  the  need  of,  and  have  the  pleas- 
ure of  feeling  that  nobody  helped  me  to  what  I  am 
getting,  but  I  had  to  get  it  myself  and  at  a  sacrifice. 
After  dreading  to  do  it,  I  am  surprised  to  find  how 
much  pleasure  I  take  in  it  after  it  is  done.  I  believe, 
however,  that  those  other  people  lead  the  most 
tranquil  lives.  There  is  no  use  in  philosophizing, 
however." 


"I  am  now  fairly  at  work  in  the  machine  shop  and 
like  it  very  much — 

1.  Because,  although  it  is  harder  work  in  one  sense 
of  the  word,  yet  it  is  more  in  the  way  of  advancement 
than  the  drawing  room  is.  I  never  liked  the  draw- 
ing room.  To  be  in  the  drawing  room  (without 
practical  experience)  is  very  like  being  surgeon  in 
the  army.  An  energetic  private  has  a  better  chance 
of  continuous  advancement. 

2.  The  work  only  seems  harder,  and  is  really  not 
half  so  hard.  It  is  more  healthy,  physically  and 
mentally. 

3.  Because  it  gives  me  a  foothold  where  I  wanted 
it.  They  don't  tell  me  what  they  will  do  about 
my  pay;  but  that  is  of  the  least  consequence,  since 
when  I  acquire  the  practice  I  am  working  for  I 
will    be    much  better  qualified  for  the  place  Mr. 


APPRENTICESHIP  WITH  JOHN  FRITZ  51 

Holle}^  offered  me  at  Troy,   which  I  could  get  at 
any  time. 

"Mr.  Holley  and  Mr.  Fritz  are  both  in  Europe." 


"I  am  working  in  the  machine  shop  on  a  roll  lathe 
— turning  the  rolls  through  which  the  hot  iron  passes 
in  the  mills,  to  make  it  in  the  shape  of  rails.  I  like 
the  work,  and  do  not  find  it  arduous  or  particularly 
tiresome.  My  pay  is  put  at  $2  per  day,  quite  as 
much  as  I  expected.  I  am  more  than  satisfied  that 
it  is  a  good  thing  for  me  to  do,  and  that  I  shall  be 
well  repaid  in  the  end.  The  pay  is  quite  sufficient 
for  me  to  live  on. 

"I  have  just  learned  that  it  was  a  matter  of  a  hair's 
weight  one  way  or  the  other  with  the  higher  officers 
of  the  Company  whether  I  should  go  to  Europe  with 
Mr.  Fritz  or  not.  I  am  told  he  was  anxious  to  have 
me  go  with  him  as  private  secretary.  I  am  not  sorry 
for  having  missed  it;  for  in  doing  so  I  am  now  laying 
in  a  store  of  experience  I  always  felt  would  be  neces- 
sary before  I  could  fairly  enter  the  path  I  desired 
to  beat;  and  it  has  always  been  an  annoying  thing 
to  feel  that  the  sacrifice,  as  it  were,  was  yet  before 
me." 


"I  feel  more  and  more  satisfied  with  myself  for 
having  made  the  change  of  my  work  into  the  shop. 
Mr.  Fritz  is  back  again;  but  I  have  no  idea  what  his 
state  of  mind  is  in  regard  to  the  matter,  since  he  does 
not  now  even  deign  to  speak  to  me.  This  neither 
disconcerts  nor  discourages  me,  however;  for  when 
I  took  the  step  in  opposition  to  his  advice  and  wishes 
I  knew  he  would  not  heed  any  of  those  scruples  of 


52  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

conscience  which  might  influence  other  men.  But 
he  had,  on  the  other  hand,  done  nothing  positive  in 
showing  his  displeasure,  and  is  therefore  open  to 
adopt  any  course  or  opinion  of  me  that  my  work 
may  justify." 


"I  am  convinced  more  every  day  of  the  wisdom 
of  my  going  into  the  shop.  This  place  is  considered 
a  good  one  to  come  from;  but  I  am  afraid  it  is  not  a 
very  good  one  to  stay  at,  provided  advancement  is 
the  desire  of  a  young  man.  Therefore,  I  am  sure 
I  have  done  right  in  giving  my  time  to  those  pur- 
suits that  will  give  me  strength  and  invest  me  with 
the  capability  to  justify  at  another  place  what  would 
be  expected  of  a  Bethlehem  man." 


CHAPTER  IV 

LAYING  FOUNDATIONS — ^AT   WORK   IN  GERMANY — 
GERMAN    CHARACTERISTICS THE    BROKEN    BOLT 

DURING  the  years  of  his  apprenticeship  at 
Bethlehem,  Tompkins  was  laying  founda- 
tions for  larger  things,  saving  money,  mak- 
ing investments,  projecting  enterprises,  measuring 
his  employers,  looking  beyond  the  mill.  The  second 
year  of  his  apprenticeship  he  formed  a  partnership 
with  a  young  merchant  in  Edgefield,  S.  C,  for  the  sale 
of  cotton  ties,  and  invented  a  buckle  to  improve 
the  tie.  The  ties  and  buckles  were  made  by  Tomp- 
kins in  Bethlehem  and  shipped  to  his  partner  for  sale 
in  South  Carolina.  His  surplus  wages  from  the 
iron  mill  were  invested  regularly  in  building  and 
loan  stock.  He  soon  became  a  director  in  the  Build- 
ing and  Loan  Association;  and,  finding  that  it  was 
badly  managed,  he  threw  it  into  bankruptcy,  bought 
up  the  stock,  and  organized  a  new  association,  of 
which  he  was  secretary  and  general  manager.  With 
fellow  workmen  he  organized  a  cooperative  company 
for  buying  land  and  building  houses.  This  enter- 
prise, however,  was  not  perfected  nor  well  developed 
before  he  left  Bethlehem.  He  made  investments 
in  railway  stock.  He  built  a  residence  on  one  of  his 
lots  in  Bethlehem;  and  retained  ownership  of  it  until 
his  death. 

In  the  midst  of  these  varied  activities  he  kept  up 
his  work  in  the  mill,  and  nourished  a  lively  ambition 

53 


54  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

for  promotion.  He  longed  to  be  an  iron  master  like 
John  Fritz — to  build  in  the  South  a  Bethlehem  Iron 
Works.  His  non -promotion  in  the  mills  was  a  keen 
disappointment,  which  he  bore  with  a  brave  spirit 
of  patience  and  a  clear  consciousness  of  merit.  He 
wrote  to  John  Fritz  the  following  letter,  a  model  of 
dignified,  manly,  and  modest  appeal  and  remon- 
strance : 

"In  behalf  of  a  matter  which  seems  to  be  of  great 
concern  to  me,  I  wish  to  call  your  attention  concisely 
to  the  following  facts:  My  earnest  desire,  whilst  I 
have  been  here,  has  been  to  get  into  practical  work. 
Whenever  I  have  spoken  of  this  matter,  the  tendency 
of  your  replies  has  seemed  to  have  been  that  you 
would  keep  the  matter  in  your  mind,  etc.  I  am 
impatient  now  of  nothing  else  than  that  after  four 
years  (within  six  wrecks)  I  am  as  much  in  the  dark 
as  to  the  possibility  of  such  a  change  as  I  desire  as  at 
the  beginning  of  that  time.  To  continue  in  the  same 
way,  with  no  further  knowledge  of  your  disposition 
in  the  matter,  might  lead  me  to  the  end  of  four  more 
years  with  the  same  result. 

"If  it  is  impossible  to  gain  confidence  in  my  ability 
to  conduct  practical  work  by  other  means  than  begin- 
ning anew,  it  is  essential  to  me  that  I  should  know 
it;  for  to  wait  much  longer  will  put  me  beyond  that 
period  of  life  at  which  that  can  be  done  without  great 
sacrifice.  In  the  time  that  I  have  been  here,  I  have 
done  more  practical  work  than  is  often  found  to  be 
done  by  men  in  the  same  position,  yet,  withal,  my 
present  position  has  a  constant  tendency  to  constrain 
me  from  the  way  of  it,  and  in  itself  gives  no  advance- 
ment, my  pay  having  been  $2.00  per  day  when  I  took 
it,  and  being  now  $2.87.  With  the  large  increase  in 
machinery  to  be  taken  care  of  and  the  attention  this 


LAYING  FOUNDATIONS  55 

will  require  of  someone,  it  seems  to  me  now  that  it 
would  be  easily  practicable  for  you  so  to  arrange  the 
distribution  of  the  work  as  to  give  me  the  oppor- 
tunity to  enter  into  that  system  of  habits  I 
desire  to  improve,  even  if  I  continue  to  do  the 
drawing  at  the  same  time,  which  I  am  perfectly 
willing  to  do. 

"I  have  heard  you  speak  of  having  requested  and 
been  granted  changes  of  work  in  your  early  life  upon 
the  same  ground  as  that  upon  which  I  now  place 
my  request.  A  matter  which  I  mention  only  to  ask 
you  to  remember  how  important  they  were  to  you 
at  that  time,  and  that  this  request  of  mine  has  the 
same  importance  to  me  now,  and  is  specially  import- 
ant as  being  a  part  of  a  definite  plan  of  life  I  have  laid 
out  to  follow. 

"I  have  omitted  any  reference  to  the  changes  that 
have  taken  place,  nor  have  I  made  any  comparisons 
of  the  merit  or  pay,  nor  referred  in  any  way  to  the 
large  bit  of  minor  matters  to  which  I  might  call  your 
attention  to  my  advantage,  and  have  refrained  from 
putting  anything  forward  before  you,  except  that 
the  time  is  come  beyond  which  such  a  change  as  I  de- 
sire to  make  becomes  more  and  more  diflficult  to  me, 
and  cannot  but  fail  to  be  of  that  advantage  to  me 
as  if  made  whilst  I  am  yet  young  enough  to  take  a 
hand  in  all  those  duties  of  machine  construction  and 
repair  so  essentially  necessary  to  make  me  usefnl  to 
myself  and  a  creditable  pupil  of  yours. 

"I  have  made  my  desire,  as  expressed  above,  as 
simple  as  possible;  and  I  ask  as  a  favor  a  plain 
answer  as  to  its  accomplishment,  assuring  you  that  I 
am  (for  my  own  good)  as  anxious  to  advance  your 
interest  as  mine." 

This  letter  caused  no  breach  between  them,  for 


56  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

they  were  genuine  friends  at  heart.  In  disposition 
and  character  they  much  resembled  each  other. 
Clashes  between  them,  though  hard  and  obstinate, 
never  struck  fire.  Their  correspondence  in  after 
life  continued  through  all  the  years,  and  was  marked 
not  only  by  mutual  admiration  and  esteem  but  by 
deep  affection.  Fritz  was  constantly  asking  Tomp- 
kins' advice  about  the  education  of  his  nephew; 
and  Tompkins  was  always  sending  Fritz  affectionate 
greetings  and  tokens.  WTien  Fritz's  eightieth  birth- 
day was  celebrated,  twenty  years  later,  at  the  Wal- 
dorf-Astoria in  New  York  City  by  the  four  great 
American  Societies  of  Engineers,  Tompkins  was  se- 
lected among  all  the  men  whom  Fritz  had  trained  to 
make  response  at  the  banquet  to  the  toast,  "John 
Fritz's  Old  Boys." 

Tompkins  was  tied  to  the  Bethlehem  Mills  for 
several  years  by  an  overmastering  ambition  to  fit 
himself  thoroughly  for  the  career  of  an  iron  master 
as  well  as  by  a  pleasant  consciousness  of  being  almost 
indispensable  to  John  Fritz.  There  was  no  place 
in  the  mills,  as  then  organized,  for  the  full  exercise 
of  his  talents;  and  mill  expansion  at  that  time  was 
prevented  by  financial  and  industrial  depression. 

Opportunity  came  for  engineering  work  and  expe- 
rience elsewhere.  Newly  invented  machinery  for 
rolling  hoops  was  to  be  installed  in  the  Schwerte  Iron 
Works  in  Westphalia,  Germany.  The  American 
manufacturers,  B.  Lauth  &  Son  of  Philadelphia, 
applied  to  Fritz  for  his  most  eflficient,  reliable,  and  in- 
telligent machinist  to  go  to  Germany,  set  up  the 
machinery,  and  train  the  German  workmen  to  run 
it.  The  commission  was  offered  to  Tompkins  and 
accepted.  Without  knowledge  of  the  German  lan- 
guage or  acquaintance  with  the  German  people  he 


LAYING  FOUNDATIONS  57 

did  the  work  successfully  amid  great  trials  and  per- 
plexing difficulties. 

A  few  extracts  from  letters  to  his  beloved  will  make 
a  picture  of  his  life  during  this  trip  abroad. 


"I  have  spent  a  week  in  Philadelphia  seeing  the 
hoop  mill  packed  to  be  sent  to  Germany." 


"  With  a  very  few  exceptions  the  passengers  on  this 
ship  are  German,  or  at  least  German-speaking  people, 
and  although  they  all  speak  English,  yet  German 
like,  they  stick  almost  entirely  to  German  in  conver- 
sation. It  is  called  by  those  who  have  crossed  more 
than  once  an  unsociable  gathering  of  passengers. 
Still,  it  is  marvelous  how  well  we  come  to  know  one 
another's  habits  even  though  the  knowledge  of  names 
is  not  so  common.  Sunday  after  leaving  New  York 
I  was  a  little  sick — just  annoyingly  sick.  I  would 
feel  comfortable  enough  on  deck,  or  even  in  my  state- 
room, but  at  the  table  would  soon  begin  to  get  uneasy 
about  the  stomach,  and  to  perspire  about  the  fore- 
head, and  have  to  leave.  It  was  while  I  waited  for 
the  steward  to  fetch  what  I  ordered  that  I  would 
get  sick.  Finally,  I  ordered  a  good  meal  put  at  my 
plate,  and  stayed  on  deck  till  it  was  done.  Then  I 
went  down  and  fairly  crammed  myself  full,  and  hurry- 
ing back  on  deck  found  the  sailors  hoisting  a  sail, 
and  I  took  hold  with  them  and  tugged  away  with 
the  best;  and  that  was  practically  the  last  of  my  sick- 
ness. A  N.  Y.  swell  tried  the  same  remedy,  but  with 
less  success,  in  as  much  as  he  skinned  his  hands  on 
the  rope  and  was  sicker  than  before.  The  way  wine 
is  drunk  is  a  marvel  to  a  temperate  American.     The 


58  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

most  inoffensive  and  harmless-looking  men  will  drink 
a  full  bottle  of  claret  at  every  meal.  My  vis-a-vis 
at  table  declares  himself  satisfied  with  one  glass  of 
sherry,  one  of  port,  and  two  bottles  of  claret.  He  is  a 
braggart,  however,  I  think.  It  seemed  very  queer 
to  see  German  ladies,  sick  and  trying  to  eat  at  table, 
turn  pale  with  sickness  trying  to  eat  a  little,  then 
turn  and  drink  off  a  glass  of  beer  to  keep  the  stomach 
settled." 


"I  am  now  in  Schwerte,  having  been  here  probably 
six  hours.  It  is  Sunday.  Mr.  Krieger,  the  super- 
intendent of  the  works,  took  me  this  p.  m.  to  drive. 
We  went  to  several  towns  adjacent.  To-morrow  I 
go  to  the  works. 

"I  reached  Bremen  yesterday  morning  at  10:30, 
spending  the  day  and  night  there.  During  the  day 
I  strolled  about  and  looked  at  the  town,  which  is  very 
attractive.  In  the  evening  I  went  to  hear  some 
music,  Bilse  Orchestra.  I  learned  afterward  that 
I  had  heard  the  orchestra  of  a  man  who  excels  Th. 
Thomas — in  fact,  the  best  orchestra  in  the  world. 
Even  to  me,  who  understand  little  of  music,  it 
seemed  superior,  and  that  before  I  knew  the  man's 
reputation. 

"This  morning  I  spent  in  Cologne  enjoying  the 
Cathedral,  the  grand  sight  of  the  city.  Six  hundred 
years  it  has  been  building,  and  will  be  finished  next 
year.  As  Bilse  is  superior  to  Thomas,  so  that  cathe- 
dral service  was  far  superior  to  anything  I  have  ever 
heard  in  America.  Innumerable  men  loaf  about 
the  front  and  want  to  show  strangers  the  church  for 
anything  that  will  be  given. 

"Schwerte  is  a  small  town  and  the  hotel  I  am  at  is 


LAYING  FOUNDATIONS  59 

not  good,  but  is  the  best  in  the  place.     But  mean 
little  hotel  as  it  is,  the  clerk  wears  a  dress  suit." 

"I  am  now  keeping  the  hours  of  German  workmen. 
The  machine  is  in  running  order  and  for  the  last  ten 
days  I  have  been  with  one  set  of  the  men  who  will  run 
it  Next  week  I  must  take  the  other  set  and  in- 
struct them,  and  then  in  the  succeeding  week  we  will 
run  the  machine  night  and  day  with  the  two  sets  of 
men  I  get  up  at  5i  a.  m.  and  get  back  home  at  1^ 
P  M.  The  first  few  days  I  had  to  do  everythmg 
myself  As  a  rule,  Germans  are  hard  workers  and 
willing  workers,  but  not  particularly  bright  about 
comprehending  a  new  idea.  Of  course,  m  this  chaotic 
state  of  beginning  I  cannot  say  how  long  I  must  be 
here." 

"These  people  wish  to  use  the  machinery  I  brought 
over  for  a  great  variety  of  work;  and  to  adapt  it  to 
this  purpose  has  required  of  me  a  great  deal  of  work. 
And  because  I  do  not  understand  the  language,  I 
must   do   a   great   deal   that   the   workmen   ought 

"The  town  is  a  dull  little  place,  and  now  that  all 
the  novelty  of  the  place  is  past  it  is  rather  a  bore. 

"The  German  working  hours  annoy  me  much. 
The  people  are  like  the  Germans  in  America.  They 
are  never  done  working  and  never  get  anythmg  done 
—they  spend  thirteen  hours  at  the  works  and  do  less 
than  an  American  in  three  hours. 

"But  I  shall  soon  be  done  now  and  will  see  you 
agam.  The  Lauths  say  they  will  build  one  of  these 
machines  to  make  band  iron  in  Alabama  and  have 


60  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

promised  to  give  me  charge  of  it.     If  all  goes  well, 
then  we  will  be  at  last  all  right,  Httle  girl." 


"In  Germany  and  in  Schwerte  I  have  seen  many 
things  that  pleased  me,  but  taken  all  in  all  I  shall  not 
be  sorry  to  turn  my  footsteps  homeward.  I  shall, 
however,  always  look  forward  to  another  trip  to  this 
country  when  I  can  have  time  enough  and  leisure 
enough  to  learn  to  speak  the  language. 

"I  now  go  to  the  works  at  6  a.  m.  and  come  home  at 
7  p.  M.  As  the  men  become  used  to  my  machine 
these  hours  will  become  less." 


"During  the  week  just  past  I  have  been  very  busy 
finishing  a  vast  number  of  small  details  necessary  to 
try  the  mill,  I  have  made  one  experimental  trial  and 
it  went  well.  I  am  now  still  further  completing  the 
details,  which  will  require  ten  days  or  so.  But  next 
week  the  iron  works  will  not  run  on  account  of  want- 
ing to  make  general  repairs,  and  in  that  interim  I  will 
make  a  little  trip  on  the  Rhine." 


"I  have  just  returned  from  up  the  Rhine,  making 
the  trip  with  Thurston  and  his  wife  who  were  passing 
this  way.  I  have  taken  advantage  of  every  oppor- 
tunity to  see  the  towns  around  here  and  think  I 
shall  not  have  a  desire  to  travel  much  when  I  leave. 
My  present  idea  is  to  see  Paris  and  London  a  day  or 
two  each,  and  perhaps  one  or  two  little  excursions 
in  France  and  England. 

*'My  trip  to  Germany  pleases  me  very  much  and  I 
beUeve  will  have  been  just  such  a  one  as  I  could 


LAYING  FOUNDATIONS  61 

most  have  desired.  I  have  lived  here,  and  it  now 
has  to  me  the  same  familiar  air  that  Troy  and 
Bethlehem  will  always  hereafter  have  to  me.  I  was 
glad  to  meet  the  Thurston s,  and  spent  a  very  pleasant 
day  with  them  in  Cologne  and  another  on  the 
Rhine." 


"I  have  had  much  to  do  here,  and  some  of  my  work 
has  been  hard  and  tiresome.  But  I  have  learned 
much  also,  and  have  had  the  opportunity  to  pick  up 
much  valuable  information. 

"I  am  a  very  poor  student  in  the  matter  of  German 
and  cannot  yet  speak  it  at  all." 


"  They  have  a  man  here  who  is  always  with  me  and 
he  now  has  a  very  good  idea  of  the  machine.  But  he 
is,  as  is  the  rule  of  Germans,  sometimes  stubborn 
and  sometimes  stupidly  stubborn,  as  only  Germans 
can  be. 


"Mr.  Lauth  had  represented  to  these  people  that 
the  machine  (which  is  a  new  invention)  was  able  to 
do  much  more  than  has  been  heretofore  possible.  I 
have  had  to  make  many  experiments  and  improve 
it  in  many  respects  to  make  it  fulfill  their  require- 
ments. 

"The  director  of  the  company,  a  Mr.  Dickerhoff, 
has  been  extremely  kind  and  liberal  in  his  bearing 
toward  me,  but  some  of  the  subordinate  officers 
have  annoyed  me  very  much  with  telling  lies.  I  have 
not  deigned  to  take  the  least  notice  of  them,  but  will 
review  these  things  when  I  make  my  final  report. 


62  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

Mr.  Dickerhoff 's  uniform  civility  and  patience  makes 
me  admire  him  very  much." 


"Here  it  is  October,  and  I  never  dreamed  of  being 
here  later  than  September  1st.  The  work  has  been 
done  exceedingly  slow.  Work  here  is  always  done 
with  a  good  deal  of  fuss,  while  very  little  is  done.  In 
fact,  the  main  object  in  life  with  these  people  is  com- 
fort and  uniform  comfort.  They  eat  and  drink 
from  morning  till  night.  They  have  more  working 
hours,  but  lose  so  much  time  during  work  eating  and 
drinking,  that  I  am  sure  they  do  not  half  the  work 
that  an  American  would  do  in  shorter  hours.  I 
thought  this  wasting  of  time  was  only  amongst  the 
workmen;  but  a  few  days  since  I  had  some  drawing 
to  do,  and  fixed  up  a  board  in  a  vacant  room  near  by, 
and  I  was  surprised  to  find  that  each  clerk  had  a 
bottle  of  beer  stuck  in  some  hole  in  the  room;  and 
would  slip  in  once  or  twice  during  the  morning  and 
drink  a  glass  of  beer  and  eat  sandwiches.  The  head 
clerk  himself  w^as  one  of  the  crowd.  Funny  to  see 
the  bold  face  some  of  them  would  put  on  and 
the  celerity  with  which  they  would  slip  the  bottle 
in  its  hole  when  they  heard  footsteps.  But  while 
these  things  seem  small,  there  are  probably  other 
ways  in  which  the  workmen  are  better  than  ours. 
The  general  manager  is  an  excellent  man." 


"I  have  been  making  a  little  trip  through  some  of 
the  important  German  cities,  leaving  the  machine 
in  the  hands  of  the  workmen.  Although  I  have 
seen  much  that  is  interesting  on  this  trip  it  has  been 
a  sort  of  bore.     I  am  coming  more  and  more  to  find 


LAYING  FOUNDATIONS  63 

no  interest  even  in  the  most  interesting  things,  unless 
I  can  have  some  company  that  would  be  interested 
with  me.  Leipzig,  where  I  now  am,  is  a  great  uni- 
versity town,  as  you  probably  know  already,  and  is 
the  publishing  place  for  Germany  and  in  fact,  largely 
for  Europe.  The  Tauchnitz  edition  of  books  is  pub- 
lished here." 

"I  am  disappointed  in  Paris.  All  its  finery  and 
gorgeousness  etc.,  etc.,  with  a  few  exceptions,  are 
of  the  ballet  type.  'Tis  unquestionably  the  city 
of  vice,  but  vice  without  the  coarseness  it  has  m 
other  cities.  Of  course  I  am  often  cheated,  m  con- 
sequence of  not  being  able  to  speak  French." 


"Since  my  arrival  in  London  I  have  done  nothing 
but  order  some  clothes.  My  passage  across  the 
Channel  made  me  very  sick  and  I  have  slept  nearly 
all  day.  I  go  to-morrow  to  Manchester  to  see  ma- 
chinery, etc.,  and  hope  to  sail  the  next  day.  In 
my  anxiety  to  get  off  home  I  am  almost  constrained 
to  leave  undone  things  for  which  I  know  I  should  be 
afterward  sorry." 


His  trip  was  now  ended.  The  work  he  had  un- 
dertaken was  very  difficult,  but  he  went  at  it  bravely 
and  put  it  through.  He  had  learned  much  of  life, 
had  seen  the  Old  World,  and  was  glad  to  be  back  in 
America. 

An  incident  of  his  work  in  Germany  was  described 
by  Tompkins  twenty-five  years  later.     It  illustrates 


64  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

his  resourcefulness  and  skill  as  a  workman  at  that 
early  period  and  his  tenacious  memory  in  later  years 
of  events  long  past.  The  incident  had  not  impressed 
him  at  the  time  as  worth  relating. 

THE   BROKEN   BOLT 

"Sometimes  an  incident  which  seems  insignificant 
has  a  touch  of  something  which  particularly  appeals 
to  humanity,  while  again  some  of  our  best  efforts 
seem  to  fall  flat  in  the  presence  of  humanity. 

"While  I  was  in  Germany  setting  up  machinery 
for  the  Bethlehem  Iron  Company,  or  in  which  the 
Bethlehem  Iron  Company  had  patent  interest,  a  little 
incident  occurred  upon  which  I  laid  no  stress  what- 
ever and  which  in  reality  was  a  very  small  matter, 
and  yet  the  story  of  it  seems  to  have  travelled  the 
world  over.  As  all  stories  do  when  they  travel,  this 
one  has  been  magnified,  but  the  sentimental  feature 
has  always  remained  in  it. 

"There  was  a  big  engine  in  the  rolling  mill  in  which 
I  was  working  which  operated  considerable  of  the 
machinery  in  the  mill.  It  was  probably  an  engine 
of  1,000  or  2,000  H.  P.,  possibly  more.  It  was  set 
up  on  a  cut  stone  foundation.  The  foundation  was 
about  10  feet  deep,  and  there  was  a  surrounding  wall 
built  to  make  a  space  down  to  the  bottom  of  the 
foundation.  The  foundation  bolts  went  through 
lugs  on  the  two  plates,  then  down  through  a  hole 
which  was  about  4  inches  round  drilled  into  the  stone. 
At  the  bottom  there  was  a  pocket  through  which 
the  nut,  or  key,  at  the  bottom  of  the  bolt  could  be 
put  in  place.  These  foundation  bolts  were  8  or  10 
feet  long  and  2|  or  3  inches  in  diameter.  One  day 
one  of  them  broke  about  the  middle.     The  engine 


LAYING  FOUNDATIONS  65 

was  a  heavy  one,  and  they  were  afraid  to  run  it 
without  this  bolt.     The  top  end,  of  course,  was  easily 
pulled    out.     The    construction    of    the    foundation 
with  the  pocket  at  the  bottom  had  been  made  in  a 
way  to  get  the  nut  out  easily,  but  when  it  came  to 
lifting  the  4  or  5  feet  of  2j  inch  metal  out  of  the  hole, 
everybody    was   balked.     Attempts   were   made   to 
shove  it  up  from  below  by  putting  short  pieces  of 
metal  under  it  one  after  another,  but  they  never 
could  get  it  up  more  than  one  or  two  pieces  of  the 
metal  high.     They  fished  for  it  from  above  with 
nooses  made  of  wire,  they  tried  to  make  long-handled 
tongs  to  reach  it  from  the  top,  but  they  could  not 
make  these  hold.     The  management  was  getting  im- 
patient and  intolerant.     The  general  manager  rarely 
came  into  the  mill,  but  he  finally  came  to  take  a  look 
at  a  trouble  which  had  already  kept  the  mill  standing 
a  day,  causing  a  large  number  of  men  to  be  thrown 
out  of  employment.     Coming  by  my  mill,   which 
was  running,  the  manager  chatted  pleasantly,  telling 
me  about  the  difficulty  they  were  having  with  the 
big  engine.     He  started  over  toward  it,  but  turned 
and  came  back  to  where  I  was  working,  and  asked 
me  to  give  my  tongs  to  the  helper  and  come  and 
see  if  I  could  not  suggest  some  way  to  get  the  bolt 
out  of  the  hole.     I  told  him  he  had  good  men  there 
already,  but  he  insisted,  and  I  went  over.     When 
I  got  there,  a  happy  idea  came  quickly  to  my  mind. 
I  asked  if  they  had  the  top  end  of  the  bolt  which 
they  had  already  pulled  out;  they  answered  *Yes,' 
and  I  told  them  then  to  get  a  piece  of  ^  inch  pipe 
and  bring  the  top  piece  of  the  bolt  and  the  pipe 
to  the  blacksmith  shop.     I  heated  the  pipe,  belled 
out  the  end  of  it  a  little,  swaged  it  a  little  to  make 
it  a  little  too  small  to  go  on  the  bolt.     Then  every- 


66  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

body  saw  what  was  going  to  be  done.  I  took  the 
pipe  into  the  mill,  stuck  the  end  of  it  in  a  heating  fur- 
nace, called  for  a  bucket  of  water,  let  the  pipe  down 
through  the  hole,  and  drove  it  hard  over  the  end  of 
the  bolt,  then  I  poured  the  bucket  of  water  on  it. 
The  shrinkage  clamped  the  pipe  so  tightly  on  to  the 
bolt  that  after  the  two  had  been  pulled  up  together 
they  could  not  be  separated  except  by  splitting  the 
pipe.  The  thing  that  seemed  to  me  at  that  time  of 
more  consequence  than  the  operation  was  the  prompt 
assumption  of  the  credit  of  the  whole  thing  by  the 
general  manager.  He  did  not  undertake  to  take  any 
credit  away  from  me,  but  he  said  and  repeated  and 
re-repeated  that  everybody  was  most  stupid  not  to 
have  gone  for  the  American  immediately;  that  he 
really  believed,  if  he  had  not  come  out  and  thought 
of  the  American  himself,  that  none  of  them  ever 
would  have  thought  about  him.  He  said  that 
everybody  knew  an  American  could  do  anything, 
and  thought  it  was  a  strange  thing  that  they 
wasted  so  much  time,  when  an  American  was  so 
available. 

"The  story  got  into  the  papers  in  a  maudlin  sort 
of  way,  and  it  seemed  to  make  a  catchy  story.  It 
came  to  this  country,  and  was  circulated  in  the 
Northern  States,  where  manufacturing  at  that  time 
was  mostly  done.  One  paper  had  it  that  it  had  be- 
come necessary  to  get  one  of  the  anchorage  bolts 
of  the  Brooklyn  Bridge  out  of  the  foundation,  and 
that  I  had  done  it,  and  got  $10,000  for  it,  although 
it  was  only  a  few  minutes'  work.  Of  course  this 
was  a  version  made  by  the  writer,  to  make  the 
story  more  interesting  and  to  make  it  locally 
applicable. 

"On  a  recent  trip  to  New  York  a  gentleman  in  the 


LAYING  FOUNDATIONS  67 

Waldorf-Astoria  Hotel  remarked  that  he  had  just 
heard  a  story  about  me,  and  related  the  story  based 
upon  the  above  incident.  Thus  after  so  many  years 
the  story  seems  to  circulate,  because  people  seem 
to  like  something  about  it  which  I  don't  see." 


CHAPTER  V 

STUDYING    INDUSTRIAL   CONDITIONS THE   OLD 

INDUSTRIAL    SOUTH D.    A.    TOMPKINS, 

ENGINEER,    CHARLOTTE,    N.    C. 

ON  HIS  return  from  Germany  Tompkins  was 
strongly  tempted  to  remain  in  Bethlehem. 
Absence  had  intensified  his  popularity  and 
magnified  his  usefulness.  His  return  was  a  signal 
for  universal  manifestations  of  regard.  The  City 
Council  chose  him  as  a  Burgess  to  fill  a  vacancy, 
the  Democratic  Club  elected  him  President,  Fritz 
urged  him  to  accept  his  old  position  in  the  mills. 
To  others  his  prospects  seemed  bright  and  full  of 
promise,  but  not  to  him;  for  he  felt  within  himself 
longings  that  could  not  be  satisfied  and  powers  that 
could  not  be  developed  in  Bethlehem.  His  heart 
was  in  the  South.  Memories  of  early  life,  family 
love,  devotion  to  the  land  of  his  birth,  had  been 
strengthened  and  intensified  by  absence  and  by 
work  in  new  industries.  His  feelings  were  not  dis- 
played in  public  but  were  known  to  liis  intimate 
friends.  "He  was  with  all  his  heart  devoted  to  the 
South,"  writes  H.  B.  Binsse,  a  collegemate  and  fellow 
worker,  "and  from  the  first  wished  to  work  and  live 
there.  While  at  Bethlehem  he  determined  to  de- 
vote his  life  to  development  of  the  South,  and  he  con- 
sistently aimed  in  that  direction.  He  was  offered 
to  my  knowledge  an  excellent  position  in  Chicago, 
which  he  refused  for  this  reason.'' 


STUDYING  INDUSTRIAL  CONDITIONS  69 

As  soon  as  it  was  known  that  Tompkins  would 
leave  Bethlehem,  offers  of  employment  came  to  him 
from  all  quarters,  from  Holley  and  the  Lauths,  from 
former  collegemates  at  the  institute,  from  manufac- 
turing establishments  in  Philadelphia  and  Chicago, 
from  engineering  enterprises  in  Tennessee,  Alabama, 
Kansas,  and  INIissouri.  Everybody  that  knew  him 
was  desiring  his  services  or  recommending  him  to 
others.  It  is  significant  of  his  deep  though  silent 
emotional  nature  that  he  carefully  filed  and  pre- 
served until  his  death  all  the  correspondence  of  this 
period,  precious  testimony  to  the  high  esteem  which 
had  been  earned  by  his  life  and  work  in  Troy  and 
Bethlehem. 

Resisting  all  temptations  to  live  and  work  in  the 
North,  Tompkins  now  devoted  himself  for  a  year 
to  the  study  of  Southern  industrial  history  and  the 
inspection  of  Southern  industrial  conditions.  He 
visited  all  the  centres  of  new  industrial  activities 
in  the  South  and  carefully  studied  local  conditions. 
Fifteen  years  before  he  had  gone  North  to  college 
with  despondent  feelings  about  the  future  of  the 
South.  He  shared  the  prevailing  belief  that  South- 
ern industrial  inferiority  was  the  natural  result  of 
climate,  a  belief  which  was  not  likely  to  be  changed 
by  residence  in  the  North  and  work  in  Northern 
mills  and  shops  and  factories.  Among  thousands 
of  Southern  youths  who  after  the  Civil  War  sought 
education  or  employment  or  professional  careers  in 
Northern  States,  few  returned  to  their  native  land. 
They  saw  everywhere  in  the  North  increasing  wealth 
and  power,  while  the  stricken  and  impoverished 
South  offered  a  vision  of  perpetual  poverty. 

But  the  clearer  insight  of  Tompkins  looked  through 
this  dismal  prospect,  and  discovered  in  the  earlier 


70  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

history  of  the  South  an  industrial  development  which 
gave  hope  not  only  of  future  revival  but  possibly 
of  greater  expansion.  His  study  of  Southern  in- 
dustrial conditions  filled  him  with  enthusiasm. 

"When  I  left  South  Carolina  to  go  North,"  said  he, 
"I  thought  I  was  leaving  a  country  which  had  never 
had  any  important  manufactures.  Later,  when  I 
was  in  the  middle  of  industrial  life  in  the  North,  I 
conceived  the  idea  of  writing  an  industrial  history 
of  the  United  States.  To  my  amazement  I  found 
that  the  agricultural  South,  from  which  I  had  come 
in  a  spirit  of  industrial  despair,  was  the  cradle  of 
manufactures  in  the  United  States. 

"The  industrial  development  of  the  South  was  as 
much  advanced  a  hundred  years  ago  as  that  of  any 
other  part  of  the  Union.  The  census  of  1810  shows 
that  the  manufactured  products  of  Virginia,  the 
Carolinas,  and  Georgia  exceeded  in  variety  and  value 
those  of  all  the  New  England  States  taken  together. 
There  were  more  homespun  cotton  manufactures 
in  Virginia,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia  than  in  the 
thirteen  other  states  and  territories;  more  flax  in 
Virginia  than  in  any  other  state.  Prior  to  1812 
Southern  manufactures  were  in  the  line  of  household 
arts.  These  manufactures  were  generalized  and 
dispersed,  not  localized  and  integrated;  the  aggregate 
was  considerable. 

"In  the  Piedmont  region  of  the  Carolinas  many 
charcoal  blast  furnaces  were  in  operation  a  century 
ago.  Cotton  mills  now  operated  by  water  power 
are  on  sites  which  were  formerly  occupied  by  Catlin 
forges,  rolling  mills,  cotton  factories,  and  other  manu- 
facturing plants.  At  these  forges  and  rolling  mills 
were  made  bars,  nails,  plow^shares,  and  other  products. 
One  product  was  a  special  metal  for  rifle  barrels. 


STUDYING  INDUSTRIAL  CONDITIONS  71 

There  were  notable  gunmakers  in  the  Piedmont 
region  in  the  time  of  these  forges  and  rolling  mills; 
and  they  required  an  extra  good  quality  of  metal 
for  their  rifles.  These  gun-makers  supplied  to  the 
home  people  and  to  the  frontiersmen  of  Tennessee 
and  Kentucky  most  of  the  rifles  which  played  such 
a  part  in  frontier  life,  and  were  such  a  factor  in  the 
early  development  of  American  civilization.  I  have 
seen  a  copy  of  a  contract  in  accordance  with  which 
the  entire  machinery  equipment  for  a  cotton  mill 
was  constructed  in  a  machine  shop  at  Lincolnton, 
N.  C,  in  1813. 

"When  the  Union  was  formed  and  a  nation  was 
organized,  the  order  of  the  states  in  population  and 
wealth  was,  Virginia  first,  Pennsylvania  second. 
North  Carolina  third.  In  enterprise  and  develop 
ment  the  South  surpassed  all  other  parts  of  the 
Union.  The  institution  of  slavery  changed  the  rela- 
tive position  of  North  and  South,  the  institution  of 
slavery — not  the  negro — but  the  institution.  The 
negro  has  never  been  in  the  way  of  industrial  prog- 
ress as  much  as  the  Indian  was  originally.  But 
the  institution  of  slavery  had  a  tremendous  adverse 
influence;  and  this  would  have  been  the  same  if  the 
slaves  had  been  white  instead  of  colored. 

"The  Southern  States  prospered  before  slavery 
became  the  dominant  influence.  The  prosperity 
before  that  time  was  a  prosperity  of  manufactures, 
commerce,  and  agriculture.  As  slavery  grew  in 
importance  and  influence,  manufactures  and  com- 
merce declined.  The  invention  of  the  cotton  gin 
emphasized  the  importance  and  profit  of  cotton 
culture  with  slave  labor.  The  South  became  a 
country  exclusively  devoted  to  the  production  of 
staple  crops:  tobacco,  rice,  cotton,   and  sugar — all 


72  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

with  slave  labor.  The  free  white  mechanics  were 
driven  to  the  Northwest.  My  own  grandfather 
owned  and  operated  a  carriage  factory,  which,  for 
lack  of  white  mechanics,  he  finally  abandoned  in 
favor  of  cotton  production  with  negro  slave  labor. 

"Those  who  advocated  slavery  were  interested  in 
the  extension  of  the  system  to  the  Southwest.  The 
system  founded  upon  agriculture  with  slave  labor 
alone  necessarily  fell.  From  the  time  that  slavery 
became  the  dominant  influence  the  South  made 
very  little  progress.  From  1830  to  1860  South 
Carolina  and  North  Carolina  practically  stood  still ; 
then  wealth  fell  into  the  hands  of  fewer  people, 
general  development  ceased,  resources  were  neg- 
lected, migration  was  large  and  constant  both  to  the 
central  Northwest  by  white  laborers  and  to  the 
Southwest  by  slave  owners  with  their  slaves.  As 
far  as  the  character  of  the  people  and  the  resources 
of  the  country  were  concerned,  the  industrial  prog- 
ress of  the  Piedmont  Carolinas  should  have  been 
parallel  with  that  of  Pennsylvania." 

That  the  South  was  capable  of  industrial  develop- 
ment was  shown  by  its  industrial  activity  during 
the  Civil  War.  Cut  off  from  the  outside  world  and 
stirred  by  the  stimulus  of  a  great  war  it  exhibited 
mechanical  skill  and  inventions  of  a  high  order,  great 
in  number,  variety,  ingenuity,  and  utility.  Every 
plantation,  every  farm,  almost  every  cabin  became 
a  mill,  a  factory,  or  a  little  workshop.  By  the  close 
of  the  war  the  South  was  producing  not  only  its 
food  supplies,  clothing,  house  furnishings,  farming 
tools,  and  machinery  but  also  its  military  and  naval 
weapons  and  equipment.  The  rebel  ram  was  the 
forerunner  of  the  modern  battle  ship.  The  subma- 
rine was  a  rebel  invention. 


STUDYING  INDUSTRIAL  CONDITIONS  73 

But  at  the  end  of  the  war  the  high  price  of  cotton 
and  the  ease  of  cotton  culture  again  diverted  the 
energies  of  the  South  from  manufactures,  and  concen- 
trated them  almost  with  magical  quickness  upon 
the  sole  business  of  cotton  growing.  Homespun 
industries,  recently  nourished  by  the  necessities  of 
war,  now  decayed  like  mushrooms.  Forges,  car- 
penter shops,  tanneries,  and  the  like  small  industries 
formerly  existing  on  large  plantations,  were  now  in 
ruins,  abandoned  for  cotton  fields.  Looms  and 
spindles,  recently  humming  in  every  cabin,  were  now 
idle  rubbish,  except  in  the  cabins  of  poor  whites 
where  they  lingered  obstinately  for  another  genera- 
tion. Even  long-established  agricultural  industries 
fell  into  neglect  and  contempt.  Horses  and  cattle, 
hogs  and  sheep,  hay  and  oats,  commeal  and  flour 
were  no  longer  regarded  as  necessary  products  of  the 
plantation.  Nothing  was  grown  on  the  plantation 
that  could  be  purchased  elsewhere.  A  big  crop  of 
cotton  would  buy  whatever  was  needed.  If  the 
sale  of  the  crop  at  the  end  of  the  year  failed  to  pay 
the  store  accounts,  it  would  at  least  start  a  new 
credit  for  the  new  year.  Cotton  was  king — white 
cotton,  shining  in  the  big  white  fields. 

The  passion  for  raising  cotton  became  almost  a 
craze.  Its  victims  were  not  only  the  big  planters 
but  small  farmers,  poor  white  tenants,  and  ragged 
negro  hirelings.  Everything  else  was  imported 
from  the  North:  food,  clothing,  tools,  machinery, 
horses,  hay,  oats,  pork,  beef,  flour,  meal,  cheese, 
butter,  condensed  milk,  even  fried  potatoes,  in  boxes 
and  barrels,  cooked  and  ready  for  the  table.  Com- 
mission merchants  in  the  cities  and  retail  merchants 
in  the  towns  held  in  mortgage  practically  the  entire 
South.     Interest,  compounded  and  recompounded. 


74  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

rolled  up  an  ever-increasing  aggregrate  of  debt. 
Everybody  was  staggering  under  the  load;  and  every- 
body^ kept  on  raising  cotton — enormous  crops  of 
cotton,  increasing  in  size  but  not  in  value.  Prices 
were  falling  below  the  cost  of  production. 

Amid  the  general  feeling  of  despair  and  the  im- 
minence of  bankruptcy  there  was  a  saving  sense  of 
humor.  People  smiled  at  their  own  follies  and  mis- 
fortunes. Popular  orators  and  writers  burlesqued 
the  prevailing  industrial  madness;  and  with  fine 
humor  sought  to  laugh  the  South  into  industrial 
sanity.  The  eloquent  Grady  pictured  this  folly  in 
his  description  of  a  Georgia  funeral.  The  descrip- 
tion was  so  pleasing  to  Tompkins  that  it  became  a 
part  of  his  mental  furniture,  and  he  never  failed  to 
quote  it  when  occasion  permitted.     Said  Grady: 

"I  attended  a  funeral  once  in  Pickens  County, 
Georgia.  It  was  a  poor  *one  gallus'  fellow.  They 
buried  him  in  the  midst  of  a  marble  quarry;  they  cut 
through  solid  marble  to  make  his  grave;  and  yet  a 
little  tombstone  they  put  above  him  was  from  Ver- 
mont. They  buried  him  in  the  heart  of  a  pine  forest, 
and  the  pine  coffin  was  imported  from  Cincinnati. 
They  buried  him  within  touch  of  an  iron  mine,  and 
yet  the  nails  in  his  coffin  and  the  iron  in  the  shovel 
that  dug  his  grave  were  imported  from  Pittsburgh. 
They  buried  him  by  the  side  of  the  best  sheep-grazing 
country  on  the  earth,  and  yet  the  wool  in  the  coffin 
bands  and  the  coffin  bands  themselves  were  imported 
from  the  North.  The  South  didn't  furnish  a  thing 
on  earth  for  that  funeral  but  tlie  corpse  and  the  hole 
in  the  ground.  There  they  put  him  away,  and  the 
clods  rattled  down  on  his  coffin,  and  they  buried  him 
in  a  New  York  coat  and  a  Boston  pair  of  shoes  and 
a  pair  of  breeches  from  Chicago  and  a  shirt  from 


STUDYING  INDUSTRIAL  CONDITIONS  75 

Cincinnati,  leaving  him  nothing  to  carry  into  the 
next  world  with  him,  to  remind  him  of  the  country 
in  which  he  lived  and  for  which  he  fought  four  years, 
but  the  chill  of  blood  in  his  veins  and  the  marrow  in 
his  bones." 

Southern  literature  of  the  period  just  before  and 
just  after  the  Civil  War  abounds  in  similar  pictures 
and  similar  appeals  to  Southern  interest  and  South- 
ern pride.  Henry  A.  Wise  of  Virginia,  Cassius  M. 
Clay  of  Kentucky,  Hinton  R.  Helper  of  North 
Carolina  were  zealous  and  unceasing  in  efforts  to 
stem  the  torrent  of  cotton  madness.  One  of  the 
wisest,  thriftiest,  and  most  prudent  planters  of  North 
Carolina,  the  Hon.  Paul  C.  Cameron,  of  Orange 
County,  made  an  earnest  appeal  to  his  fellow  farmers 
for  reform  in  industrial  aims  and  methods:  "I  know 
not  when  I  have  been  more  humiliated,  as  a  North 
Carolina  farmer,  than  when  a  few  weeks  ago  at  a 
railroad  depot,  at  the  very  doors  of  our  state  capitol, 
I  saw  wagons  drawn  by  Kentucky  mules  laden  with 
Northern  hay,  for  the  supply  not  only  of  the  town, 
but  to  be  taken  to  the  country.  Such  a  sight  at 
the  capitol  of  a  state  whose  population  is  almost  ex- 
clusively devoted  to  agriculture  is  a  most  humiliat- 
ing exhibition.  Let  us  cease  to  use  everything,  so  far 
as  practicable,  that  is  not  the  product  of  our  own  soil 
and  workshops — not  an  axe,  nor  a  broom,  nor  bucket 
from  Connecticut.  By  every  consideration  of  self- 
preservation  we  are  called  to  make  better  efforts 
to  expel  the  Northern  grocer  from  the  state  with  his 
butter,  and  the  Ohio  and  Kentucky  horse,  mule,  and 
hog  drover — from  our  county  at  least.'* 

In  the  midst  of  this  industrial  depression,  when 
cotton  culture  seemed  likely  to  ruin  the  South, 
Tompkins  decided,  after   a   careful   survey  of   the 


76  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

Southern  industrial  field,  to  devote  his  life  to  the 
promotion  of  cotton  manufacturing  industries  and 
the  diversification  of  Southern  agriculture.  On 
March  31,  1882,  he  located  in  Charlotte,  North 
Carolina,  the  centre  of  the  Carolina  Piedmont  region, 
and  hung  out  his  sign : 


D.  A.  TOMPKINS,  ENGINEER,  MACHINIST,  AND 
CONTRACTOR 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE    CAROLINA    PIEDMONT THE    BEGINNINGS    OF 

THE  NEW  SOUTH 

THE  selection  of  Charlotte  as  his  home  and 
the  base  of  his  industrial  operations  was 
eminently  wise  and  fortunate.  There  is  no 
region  in  the  Southern  States  better  adapted  to  manu- 
facturing industries  than  the  Carolina  Piedmont.  Its 
water  power  is  large  and  constant.  The  annual  rain- 
fall is  more  than  sixty  inches.  "  No  other  area  on  this 
continent,"  says  Professor  Shaler,  "contams  as 
numerous  streams  of  constant  flow."  The  elevation 
ranges  from  500  to  1,000  feet,  moderating  the  heat 
of  summer,  while  the  latitude  produces  mild  and 
equable  winters.  Its  varied  scenery  presents  to  the 
eye  one  of  the  fairest  sights  in  America. 

The  population  of  the  Carolina  Piedmont  is  mamly 
of  English,  German,  and  Scotch-Irish  stock,  a  hardy, 
self-reliant,  and  liberty-loving  folk.  WTiile  very 
conservative  and  slow  to  change,  clmgmg  tenaciously 
to  ideals  and  institutions  inherited  from  their  an- 
cestors, they  are  not  dull  nor  indifferent  to  the  logic 
of  events,  but  observant,  intelligent,  and  quick- 
witted. This  population  is  less  affected  by  immigra- 
tion than  any  other  of  similar  size  in  the  United 
States.  It  is  almost  entirely  native,  less  than  one 
per  cent,  being  foreign  born. 

The   soil   and   climate   of   the  Piedmont   district 
are    well-adapted    to    small    grams,    fruits,    clover. 


77 


78  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

grasses,  cattle,  and  poultry.  At  this  period,  however, 
the  chief  industry  was  the  culture  of  cotton  and  to- 
bacco. Adjacent  to  the  Piedmont  district  on  the 
east  is  the  Atlantic  Coastal  Plain,  devoted  at  that 
time  exclusively  to  cotton  culture.  On  the  west 
is  the  vast  Appalachian  mountain  region,  peopled 
by  the  same  sturdy  stock,  as  yet  scarcely  connected 
with  the  outside  world,  and  by  long  isolation  from 
it  kept  in  a  backward  state  of  primitive  and  anti- 
quated agriculture.  This  mountain  population  sup- 
plied an  overflowing  reservoir  of  strong  and  sturdy 
humanity,  ready  for  migration  and  employment 
elsewhere. 

To  the  centre  of  this  great  Piedmont  region  and 
into  the  midst  of  its  strong,  sturdy,  and  as  yet  un- 
progressive  population  came  D.  A.  Tompkins,  in- 
dustrial missionary  and  apostle  of  the  New  South. 
He  entered  upon  his  work  with  a  kit  of  tools,  a  brave 
and  honest  heart,  a  firm  faith  in  himself  and  in  the 
future  of  the  South. 

"When  I  went  to  Charlotte,"  he  wrote  in  his 
memoirs,  *'I  asked  nobody  any  favors.  I  was  a 
machinist.  I  looked  out  for  my  own  work,  did 
each  job  that  came  my  way  the  best  I  could,  and 
this  was  generally  better  than  my  customer  or 
employer  expected — kept  at  work,  and  kept 
cheerful. 

"Whenever  opportunity  presented,  I  endeavored 
to  point  out  the  future  possibilities  of  Charlotte 
and  the  South  generally.  All  I  ever  said  about  those 
possibilities  has  come  true  and  been  exceeded. 

"In  1882  I  advocated  building  a  cottonseed  oil 
mill.  In  1884  I  advocated  building  cotton  mills. 
My  'optimistic  talk'  met  with  little  or  no  favor. 
Meanwhile,  I  always  kept  at  work." 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH  79 

WTiile  slight  attention  was  paid  to  Tompkins' 
optimistic  talk,  there  were  many  who  observed  his 
work.  His  reputation  for  skill,  honesty,  and  effi- 
ciency grew  rapidly,  extending  beyond  the  limits  of 
the  city  and  county.  His  circle  of  friends  and  patrons 
was  steadily  enlarging.  His  friends  in  the  North 
were  watching  his  career.  They  believed  that  a  new 
force  was  entering  the  industrial  life  of  the  South. 
The  Westinghouse  Company  of  Pittsburgh  offered 
ItLm  tht^  aM'<^liOV  tor  the  sale  of  the  Westinghouse 
engme!^  Tlifii  uITti  was  aiiCepted,  for  it  fitted  in  with 
"Bis  purpose  to  engage  in  the  sale  of  power-producing 
and  power-economizing  machinery:  engines,  boilers, 
gins,  compresses,  saw-mills,  and  the  like.  The  agency 
gave  promise  of  growth,  but  success  w^as  not  easy; 
for  prejudice,  ignorance,  and  stubborn  conservatism 
stood  always  in  his  path.  He  entered  at  once  upon 
extensive  correspondence,  seeking  customers  through- 
out the  Carolinas  and  adjacent  states.  He  adver- 
tised freely  by  circulars  and  newspapers,  and  travelled 
extensively.  Extracts  from  his  diary  and  from 
letters  to  relatives  show  that  he  was  not  idle  nor  de- 
spondent nor  asleep  to  opportunities,  but  always  full 
of  hopeful  philosophy,  observing  character  and  study- 
ing industrial  conditions. 

"I  am  just  back  from  a  trip  trying  to  make  con- 
tract to  put  in  a  40  H.  P.  engine  for  some  parties  up 
the  country.  After  the  most  earnest  effort  I  did  not 
get  the  contract;  and  it  seems  really  hard.  I  offered 
to  put  in  the  whole  thing  much  cheaper  than  any  one 
else,  and  yet  lost  the  contract.  I  don't  think  this 
signifies  any  serious  lack  of  confidence  in  me  or  in  my 
machine,  but  is  only  the  difficulty  of  a  new  man  and 
a  new  house  and  a  new  engine." 


80  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

"To-morrow  I  will  go  to  Shelby,  50  miles  west  of 
here,  and  then  about  25  miles  farther  on  horseback 
to  see  a  man  who  wants  an  engine.  After  that  I 
will  return,  and  then  go  to  Yorkville  in  South  Caro- 
lina, and  then  I  will  return,  and  will  then  go  to  Ander- 
son and  Newberry  in  South  Carolina.  If  I  once  get 
on  my  feet  here,  I  will  not  have  this  running  about  to 
do,  but  will  get  a  man  to  do  it,  and  I  will  stay 
in  Charlotte,  except  perhaps  for  a  very  occasional 
trip." 


"A  great  deal  of  interest  is  excited  in  my  engine; 
but  every  purchaser  wants  someone  else  to  try  it 
first.  I  have  ordered  a  small  one  sent  from  Pitts- 
burgh ;  and  I  shall  put  it  up  in  the  gas  works,  and  let 
it  do  their  work,  just  to  show  that  it  will  do  what 
we  represent." 


"The  other  machine  companies  are  doing  every- 
thing they  can  to  keep  me  out  of  contracts;  and,  al- 
though I  bid  lower  than  any  of  them  on  this  last 
contract,  they  put  their  bids  right  down  to  my 
figures  to  beat  me.  I  will  put  some  engines  in  soon 
in  spite  of  opposition;  and,  once  started,  I  feel  sure 
the  work  will  be  easy." 


"I  sold  a  55  H.  P.  a  few  days  ago  to  the  cotton- 
seed oil  mill  now  being  built  in  Charlotte,  and  got 
$1,025  for  it.  I  will  make  about  $80  on  it.  The 
price  was  $1,100;  but  I  had  severe  competition,  and 
I  had  to  cut  down  my  profit.  The  big  machinery 
takes  so  long  to  deliver  and  set  up.     I  don't  collect 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH  81 

a  cent  until  I  get  some  machinery  running.     It  will 
take  to  August  1st  to  start  this  last  engine." 


"Have  just  returned  from  a  trip  South.  I  sold 
two  engines,  and  the  prospect  seems  to  be  very  fair 
for  good  work  later.  I  shall  put  these  two  up.  In 
one  case  the  only  specification  made  by  the  planter 
was  that  I  might  make  my  own  selection  of  what  he 
required;  but  he  must  have  on  his  engine  *a  big 
whistle," 


"Rock  Hill.  I  sold  a  large  engine  here  a  few  days 
ago  to  the  cotton  factory,  and  we  are  putting  it  up. 
If  it  goes  all  right,  it  will  be  a  splendid  thing  for  me, 
both  because  it  is  a  good  sale  and  because  of  the  fact 
it  will  be  well  known  and  a  good  reference.  This 
is  a  small  town  25  miles  below  Charlotte,  which  has 
a  cotton  factory  and  is  growing,  as  in  fact  all  towns 
in  this  community  are.  I  am  discussing  with  the 
Clifton  factory  near  Spartanburg  another  sale  of 
large  engine." 


"Yesterday  I  started  up  the  oil  mill  engine  which 
was  65  H.  P.    It  ran  nicely  and  well." 


"I  have  been  on  a  long  trip  into  Stanley  County;  and 
if  I  went  near  a  P.  O.  I  do  not  know  it.  For  miles 
I  saw  men  and  women  without  a  sign  of  shoes,  and 
passed  several  of  the  famous  N.  C.  illicit  whiskey  dis- 
tilleries. A  negro  drove  me,  and  if  I  asked  a  white  man 
if  any  whiskey  could  be  bought,  he  would  promptly 


82  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

answer  *No.'  The  negro  would  then  assure  him 
I  was  no  revenue  officer,  but  an  'Engine  man'; 
then  the  fellow  would  not  be  so  sure  but  we  might 
find  some  if  we  tried.  I  asked  one  red-faced  country- 
man if  there  was  much  profit  in  distilling,  and  he  said 
there  was.  'Did  you  ever  distill  any.'*'  I  asked. 
*0h,  yes,'  he  said.  'Made  money,  I  suppose.'*' 
*No.'  *Why,  you  said  there  was  good  profit  in 
it — how  was  it  you  made  no  money.'*'  As  solemn 
as  a  judge,  he  answered,  'I  drinked  up  the  profit, 
and  more,  too,  and  had  to  quit'." 


"  I  am  doing  a  good  deal  of  moving  about.  I  have 
been  two  days  in  Robeson  County  putting  up  an 
engine." 


"For  a  couple  of  days  I  have  been  in  Rome,  Ga. 
I  sold  a  large  engine  to  Mr.  Hammett  of  the  Pied- 
mont Company  in  South  Carolina,  and  think  I  may 
sell  an  engine  here  later  in  the  season." 


"I  am  now  in  a  very  critical  period  of  my  business 
here.  I  had  not  a  large  capital  and  thought  best 
not  to  employ  help  until  I  got  a  start  and  some  in- 
come. That  has  proved  a  good  thing — for  it  has 
taken  about  this  much  time  to  get  advertised,  and 
I  am  just  now  beginning  to  get  real  busy." 


His  business  was  now  large  and  growing  rapidly. 
He  had  built  it  up  by  himself.  He  was  travelling 
salesman,    local    salesman,    bookkeeper,    mechanic. 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH  83 

and  machinist.  He  found  customers,  sold  machines, 
and  set  up  the  machinery.  The  time  was  now  come 
for  larger  organization.  Looking  over  the  city  for  a 
partner,  he  made  a  selection  creditable  to  his  judg- 
ment and  reputation.  For  two  years  he  had  occupied 
a  large  storeroom  jointly  with  R.  M.  Miller,  Sr.,  a 
cotton  commission  merchant  of  character,  credit, 
and  business  capacity,  a  strong,  conservative,  upright 
man,  representing  the  traditions  of  the  Old  South.  A 
partnership  was  formed  under  the  firm  name  of  D.  A. 
Tompkins  &  Company,  with  R.  M.  Miller,  Sr., 
president,  R.  M.  Miller,  Jr.,  secretary  and  treasurer 
and  D.  A.  Tompkins,  engineer.  The  company  be- 
came general  agents  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric 
Company  and  the  Westinghouse  Machine  Company 
for  their  southeast  territory. 

Tompkins  was  now  rapidly  establishing  a  reputa- 
tion, not  only  as  a  successful  engineer,  machinist, 
and  business  man,  but  also  as  a  student  of  industrial 
forces  and  an  authority  on  industrial  matters.  He 
was  beginning  to  be  recognized  as  a  new  and  strong 
force  in  the  industrial  life  of  Charlotte. 

Industrial  promoters,  writers,  and  students  sought 
him  out  for  instruction  and  inspiration.  The  editor 
of  the  Baltimore  Manufacturers^  Record,  who  at  this 
time  was  passing  through  Charlotte  on  one  of  his 
annual  Southern  industrial  tours,  wrote  for  the  Record 
an  account  of  his  first  meeting  with  Tompkins: 
"'Have  you  met  D.  A.  Tompkins.^'  were  almost  the 
first  words  spoken  to  me  on  a  visit  to  Charlotte  by 
R.  M.  Miller,  Sr.,  a  leading  business  man  of  that 
town.  *He  is  a  remarkable  young  man,  and  I  have 
been  so  much  impressed  with  him  that  I  have  joined 
liim  in  the  establishment  of  a  firm,  with  the  view  to 
backing  his  work  with  whatever  influence  my  name 


84  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

may  be  worth.'"  An  interview  followed  between 
Tompkins  and  Edmonds  wherein  Tompkins  was 
revealed  to  Edmonds  as  a  close  observer,  a  clear 
and  profound  thinker,  and  a  farsighted  prophet  of 
the  industrial  South.  His  analysis  of  present  con- 
ditions, his  interpretation  of  the  Old  South  passing 
into  the  New%  and  his  vision  of  its  great  future  were 
so  clear,  so  striking,  and  so  inspiring  that  Edmonds 
urged  him  to  publish  his  views  for  the  guidance  and 
inspiration  of  Southern  workers.  The  result  was 
the  following  article,  which  in  the  light  of  the  South's 
subsequent  development  seems  almost  a  prophetic 
vision : 

SOUTHERN   PROSPERITY 

"The  South  is  in  a  state  of  change.  A  condition 
of  civilization  which  grew  upon  the  basis  of  the  in- 
stitution of  slavery  is  dying  and  fading  away.  A 
condition  of  civilization  based  upon  the  new  condi- 
tions imposed  by  the  results  of  the  late  war  has  com- 
menced to  grow,  and  its  growth  is  healthy  and  vigor- 
ous. 

"There  are  tenacious  people  of  fine  education  w^ho 
are  living  in  the  dying  conditions  of  ante-bellum  life, 
some  by  obstinate  preference,  some  of  necessity. 
These  constitute  the  Old  South.  They  are,  as  a  rule, 
growing  poorer  day  by  day,  and  will  continue  to 
grow  poorer,  until  the  most  tenacious  of  them  pass 
out  of  life;  and  w^ith  them  will  go  the  system  to  which 
they  persist  in  adhering. 

"The  people  who  have  adapted  themselves  to 
the  new  conditions  imposed  by  the  results  of  the 
Civil  War  constitute  what  we  are  beginning  to  hear 
called  the  New  South.     They  have  divorced  from 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH  85 

their  minds  the  idea  that  for  a  Southern  man  there 
is  no  occupation  but  raising  cotton  with  negro  labor, 
and  that  free  negro  labor  constitutes  a  curse  to  a 
country. 

"The  New  South  finds  within  the  South  unlimited 
raw  material  from  which  products  required  by  the 
whole  world  may  be  produced.  The  New  South 
finds  that  the  conditions  which  surround  these  vast 
resources  in  raw  material  are  such  that  only  energy 
and  good  judgment  are  required  to  produce  many 
articles  of  commerce  cheaper  and  better  in  the  South 
than  can  be  done  in  any  other  country  in  the  world. 

"The  New  South  is  of  healthy  growth.  It  is 
already  a  young  giant.  It  is  absorbing  the  assets 
of  the  old,  and  adding  to  them  at  the  same  time  by 
turning  the  raw  material  of  the  country,  heretofore 
mostly  untouched,  into  products  from  the  sale  of 
which  come  handsome  profits. 

"In  the  Piedmont  region  of  North  and  South 
Carolina  cotton  factories  are  springing  up  quietly 
but  with  a  rapidity  equalled  nowhere  in  the  United 
States  in  any  industry,  except  by  that  of  iron-making 
in  Alabama  and  Tennessee. 

"While  the  opportunities  of  an  iron  maker  in  the 
South  are  excellent,  it  may  admit  of  argument 
whether  there  are  not  many  places  in  Pennsylvania 
or  Ohio  where  they  are  as  good,  or  better;  but  the 
superior  advantages  enjoyed  by  a  cotton  spinner 
operating  in  the  South  are  conspicuous.  Much  cotton 
is  now  being  spun  in  the  South  which  comes  direct 
from  the  field  to  a  gin  which  is  part  of  the  equip- 
ment of  the  factory.  This  cotton  is  free  from  in- 
numerable little  losses  to  which  cotton  shipped  to 
the  New  England  States,  or  abroad,  is  liable,  in  the 
way  of  sampling,  cost  of  freight,  damage  by  careless 


86  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

handling  in  the  mud,  and  otherwise,  at  railway  sta- 
tions, etc.  The  profits  of  Southern  mills  are  evidence 
of  these  advantages. 

*'The  only  difficulty  experienced  so  far  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  industry  of  cotton  spinning  in  the 
South  has  been  the  lack  of  experience  of  proprietors 
and  operatives.  By  the  energy  of  enterprising  men, 
this  difficulty  is  being  rapidly  overcome.  The  late 
E.  M.  Holt,  of  Alamance  County,  N.  C,  was  a 
pioneer.  He  was  eminently  successful  in  his  efforts 
to  operate  machinery  for  spinning  and  weaving 
cotton.  His  sons  seem  to  have  inherited  his  energy 
and  his  enterprise,  and  each  of  them  is  largely  in- 
terested in  factories  that  have  been  established  either 
by  their  father  or  themselves. 

"In  the  same  county  Messrs.  Scott,  Donnell  & 
Scott  have  demonstrated  that  a  small  factory  may  be 
as  successful  as  a  large  one  if  it  is  handled  with  the 
same  care  and  judgment.  The  junior  member  of  the 
firm,  Mr.  John  Scott,  has  taken  hold  of  the  work  of 
the  factory  in  a  manner  and  with  a  success  that  make 
him  a  worthy  example  to  other  young  Southerners 
whose  businesses  furnish  neither  sufficient  occupation 
nor  profit  to  satisfy  them.  He  is  neither  afraid  to 
work  nor  to  be  seen  working. 

"All  along  the  Piedmont  belt  there  are  men  who 
have  attained  to  such  success  as  entitles  them  to  dis- 
tinction. Notable  amongst  them  may  be  men- 
tioned D.  W.  Gates,  superintendent  of  the  Charlotte 
(N.  C.)  Cotton  Mills,  and  R.  Y.  McAlden,  of  Char- 
lotte, founder  and  proprietor  of  the  factories  at 
McAdenville.  Both  by  handsome  profits  have  in- 
creased the  investments  which  were  originally  made 
at  the  factories  they  manage. 

"In  Randolph  County,  on  Deep  River,  there  are 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH  87 

factories  in  quick  succession,  as  we  travel  down  the 
river — at  Randleman,  Naomi  Falls,  Worthville, 
Frankl^Titon,  and  many  others.  Amongst  the  men  who 
have  contributed  to  the  growth  of  these  enterprises 
are  John  H.  Ferree,  T.  C.  Worth,  and  Hugh  Parks. 

"On  the  other  side  of  the  line  of  the  R.  &  D.  R.  R. 
and  in  the  same  locality  are  the  twan  towns  of  Salem 
and  Winston;  and  here  we  find  many  men  of  enter- 
prise and  much  diversit}^  of  industrial  pursuit.  It 
is  not  to  spinning  cotton  alone  they  give  their  atten- 
tion. Messrs.  F.  &.  H.  Fries  make  an  excellent  cloth, 
and  the  neat  suits  of  clothes  they  wear  are  made  of 
cloth  which  is  spun  and  woven  in  factories  which 
they  themselves  have  built  and  are  actively  engaged 
in  managing.  At  this  place  also  is  a  large  interest 
in  the  manufacture  of  tobacco;  and  numerous  fac- 
tories have  grown  up  in  a  few  years.  Haynes,  Brown, 
Vaughn,  and  others  have  built  large  tobacco  factories, 
and  they  utilize  negro  labor,  and  have  found  it 
profitable.  Durham  is  another  point  where  enter- 
prising people  have  turned  raw  material  into  valua- 
ble product,  and  have  created  wealth  out  of  what  was 
formerly  left  by  their  forefathers  as  worthless.  From 
Durham  and  Winston  shipments  of  manufactured 
tobacco  are  made  to  all  parts  of  the  world.  Tobacco 
alone  is  not  the  only  manufactured  product  that 
goes  out  of  Durham — cotton  and  wool  are  spun 
there,  and  in  these  latter  enterprises  J.  M.  Odell, 
of  Concord,  has  interest,  as  well  as  the  interests  he 
has  at  his  home  in  Cabarrus  County. 

"C.  E.  Hege,  of  Salem,  is  turning  North  Carolina 
pine  wood  into  sawmills,  which  are  being  shipped 
to  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  in  return  there- 
for other  products  are  coming  into  North  Carolina. 
W.  S.  Liddell,  of  Charlotte,  has  within  ten  years 


88  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

built  up  a  machine  shop  the  total  value  of  which  is 
so  much  addition  to  the  wealth  of  the  states.  He 
ships  cotton  presses  throughout  the  South,  and  his 
cotton  presses,  sawmills,  in  fact  most  of  his  products 
are  simply  North  Carolina  raw  material  turned  into 
finished  and  marketable  machines. 

"One  of  the  neatest  strokes  of  enterprise  anywhere 
in  the  South  was  that  of  E.  D.  Latta,  of  Charlotte, 
in  establishing  about  two  years  ago  a  factory  for 
the  manufacture  of  ready-made  pants  out  of  cloths 
woven  mostly  in  North  Carolina.  His  shipments 
are  to  Northern  points  as  well  as  to  Southern,  and  his 
factory  would  be  a  valuable  addition  to  the  enter- 
prises of  any  town  North  or  South. 

"The  above  cursory  references  are  far  from  giving 
an  adequate  idea  of  the  extent  to  which  North  Caro- 
linians are  utilizing  the  raw  materials  of  the  State, 
and  producing  therefrom  with  North  Carolina  labor 
products  the  sale  of  which  is  making  the  State  rich. 

"The  gold-mining  interest  is  no  small  one;  and 
at  Charlotte  the  Mecklenburg  Iron  Works,  a  large 
machine  shop,  is  kept  largely  occupied  with  the 
equipments  of  machinery  for  gold  mines  and  the  re- 
pairs connected  therewith. 

"In  the  western  part  of  the  State  marble  of  fine 
quality  is  quarried ;  mica  is  mined  in  very  large  quan- 
tities. The  mountain  regions  are  becoming  well- 
known  and  popular  summer  and  winter  resorts,  not 
for  the  people  of  the  State  and  the  South,  but  for  the 
whole  United  States. 

"It  is  pleasing  to  note  the  diversity  of  enterprise, 
as  exampled  in  the  spoke  and  handle  factories  at 
Greensboro,  the  shuttle  and  shuttle  block  factories 
at  High  Point,  in  the  preparation  of  barrel,  stave, 
and  spoke  and  felloe  stock  at  Lexington  and  Thomas- 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  NE\Y  SOUTH  89 

ville.  There  are  in  operation  in  North  Carolina  more 
than  275,000  spindles;  and  the  factories  belong  to  and 
are  operated  by  North  Carolinians;  and  the  number 
of  their  spindles  is  increasing. 

"It  was  the  intention  in  this  article  to  speak  more 
particularly  of  North  Carolina,  but,  leaving  the 
State  and  keeping  mainly  within  the  Piedmont 
belt,  we  find  at  Clifton,  S.  C,  splendid  properties 
under  the  management  of  D.  E.  Converse,  and  to  his 
credit  it  may  be  said  they  are  properties  founded 
and  built  up  under  his  management. 

"Thirty  miles  farther  westward  is  Greenville 
and  Col.  H.  P.  Hammett — with  his  Camperdown 
Mills  and  his  Piedmont  Mills  and  other  properties, 
and  he  pays  to  his  stockholders  dividends,  whether 
times  are  good  or  w^hether  they  are  bad. 

"Atlanta  is  full  of  enterprises  and  enterprising 
men,  and  the  growth  of  that  city  is  a  fair  example 
of  the  results  of  Southern  raw  material  and  Southern 
labor  combined.  Here,  too,  the  diversity  of  enter- 
prise is  marked.  Here  it  is  possible  to  contract  for 
the  products  of  cotton  or  cottonseed.  Here  are 
the  headquarters  of  marble  companies  supplying 
marble  as  fine  as  the  Italian  stone.  Granite  is  sup- 
plied for  paving  the  streets  of  cities  to  the  north 
and  west.  Here  are  manufactured  cotton  gins, 
steam  engines,  and  various  machines  used  in  the  prep- 
aration of  cotton  for  the  market.  In  Macon,  J.  F. 
Hanson  is  the  successful  manager  of  two  splendidly 
equipped  cotton  factories;  and  at  Columbus  there 
are  the  Eagle  and  Phoenix  Mills,  than  which  none 
in  Massachusetts  has  been  more  successful. 

"In  Alabama,  O.  O.  Nelson,  of  Montgomery, 
and  George  O.  Baker,  of  Selma,  have  been  foremost 
in  the  development  of  the  new  industry  of  crush- 


90  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEAY  SOUTH 

ing  cottonseed  for  its  products.  And  in  connection 
with  the  growth  of  the  iron  interest  the  names  of 
Doctor  Caldwell  of  Birmingham,  and  A.  H.  Moses  of 
Sheffield,  are  more  than  well  known  in  connection 
with  the  growth  of  two  cities  and  the  marvellous 
multiplication  of  the  original  dollars  invested  by  the 
corporations  of  which  they  are  the  heads.  Both 
these  gentlemen  undertook  the  management  of  the 
affairs  of  the  companies  they  now  represent  at  a 
time  when  prospects  did  not  look  bright,  and  when 
the  stock  of  the  respective  companies  was  not  par- 
ticularly marketable.  Under  their  management  the 
properties  they  control  have  increased  in  value  more 
than  any  other  properties  in  the  United  States 
have  ever  been  known  to  do  before.  While  these 
places  stand  conspicuous  for  their  growth  from 
almost  nothing  to  marvellous  wealth,  other  places 
have  grown  also,  and  other  men  in  lesser  degrees  have 
done  excellent  work  in  Chattanooga,  Anniston,  South 
Pittsburg,  etc.,  etc. 

"With  all  this  improvement  and  marvellous  prog- 
ress how  is  it  that  we  now  and  then  see  in  a  well- 
written  public  journal  that  the  South  is  growing 
poorer?  It  is  because  the  editor  lives  amongst 
people  who  have  not  yet  consented  to  give  up  ante- 
bellum ways  and  ideas.  Many  a  man  who  formerly 
owned  a  hundred  slaves  and  lived  handsomely  on  a 
plantation  is  maintaining  a  slipshod  semblance  of 
the  same  sort  of  life,  and  is  trying  to  raise  cotton 
with  free  labor  as  he  raised  it  with  slave  labor.  He 
honestly  believes  he  cannot  afford  to  pay  a  negro 
laborer  any  except  the  most  meagre  wages,  because 
he  don't  earn  any  more,  and  the  negro  in  his  turn  is 
indifferent  about  whether  he  works  or  not,  because 
he  is  so  ill  paid.     The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  the 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH  9i 

average  ante-bellum  slave  owner  is  a  poor  manager  of 
free  negro  labor.  Each  year  the  labor  is  leaving 
the  plantations  and  farms,  and  is  being  engaged  in 
the  new  industrial  pursuits. 

"There  are  plantations  within  the  writer's  knowl- 
edge on  which  the  amount  of  labor  formerly  em- 
ployed was  not  less  than  fifty  able-bodied  hands, 
and  on  which  to-day  there  is  not  a  real  first-rate  hand, 
but  only  some  half-dozen  indifferent  workers,  and 
yet  the  families  who  own  the  places  are  still  trying 
to  maintain  the  appearances  of  the  life  they  led  when 
the  place  swarmed  with  slaves.  They  are  growing 
poorer,  of  course,  but  an  energetic  man  with  a  taste 
for  farming  could  take  the  same  place  and  make  good 
wages  and  50  per  cent,  per  annum  on  the  money  value 
of  the  place,  and  that  raising  cotton,  too,  at  8  cents 
per  pound.  But  to  do  it  he  would  have  to  take  the 
first  row  himself,  and  pay  fair  wages  to  a  good  hand 
to  take  the  second.  A  large  part  of  the  white  rural 
population  in  the  South  was  formerly  wealthy,  and 
could  control  labor  enough  to  support  it  without 
work.  The  conditions  under  w^hich  that  was  possi- 
ble have  passed  away.  The  mineral  resources  and 
the  industrial  pursuits  of  the  South  have  come  into 
quick  prominence.  The  ore  and  coal  beds  of  Ala- 
bama have  existed  for  centuries.  To  turn  them  into 
wealth  was  only  a  matter  of  judicious  labor. 

"The  cotton  which  Southern  people  have  only 
lately  begun  to  spin  with  such  profit  has  been  here 
all  the  while  slavery  existed.  It  would  seem  that 
where  an  acre  of  ground  can  be  made  to  produce  a 
bale  of  cotton  worth  forty  to  fifty  dollars  with  no 
more  expense  nor  labor  than  a  Northwestern  acre 
can  be  made  to  produce  forty  bushels  of  corn  worth 
fifteen  dollars,  that  for  the  farmer  the  South  is  cer- 


9^2  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

tainly  the  promised  land  even  more  than  for  the 
cotton  spinner  or  iron  maker.  If  farming  were  done 
in  the  South  with  the  same  method  and  energy  that 
the  iron  maker  or  spinner  bestows  upon  his  business, 
it  is  beyond  a  doubt  that  its  fame  as  a  rich  agricul- 
tural country  would  be  not  one  whit  less  splendid 
than  it  was  in  days  of  slavery.  A  farm  laborer 
should  be  paid  for  a  year's  labor  at  least  the  sum 
of  money  that  would  pay  for  his  food  and  clothes 
w^hile  he  was  a  slave,  and  in  addition  thereto  a  sum 
that  would  be  a  fair  interest  on  the  value  of  himself 
and  family  while  slaves. 

*'The  South  stood  once  one  of  the  foremost  and 
richest  agricultural  countries  in  the  world.  The 
soil  upon  which  she  raises  cotton  now  is  the  same  as 
that  upon  which  she  raised  it  then.  The  prices  ob- 
tained now  are  more  than  then,  and  the  cost  of  labor 
now  is  less  than  then  if  the  maintenance  of  slaves 
and  interest  on  investment  be  taken  into  considera- 
tion. 

"The  next  Southern  boom  should  be  a  farming 
boom.  The  soil  of  the  South  is  as  superior  to  that 
of  the  rest  of  the  United  States  as  her  mineral  and 
forest  resources  are.  Her  climate  is  as  fine  as  that 
in  which  ancient  Rome  attained  the  highest  of  all 
civilizations  within  the  knowledge  of  history. 

"The  parts  of  the  South  in  which  the  old  is  slowest 
to  give  way  to  the  new  are  the  very  parts  in  which 
most  success  was  attained  under  the  old  system. 
They  have  the  most  to  unlearn.  In  the  coast  cities, 
which  were  formerly  the  centres  of  all  the  wealth, 
their  engines  are  old  and  they  abhor  modern  types. 
It  is  not  realized  that  a  gentleman  and  a  mechanic 
may  be  combined  in  one  man.  It  is  in  these  regions 
also  that  the  systems  of  farming  is  least  changed. 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH  93 

and  it  is  in  these  sections  that  most  of  the  people 
live  who  are  growing  poorer  in  the  South.  But  as 
the  natural  wealth  of  the  other  parts  of  the  South 
lay  for  a  long  time  untouched,  but  finally  came 
quickly  into  notice  and  was  rapidly  developed,  so 
we  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  all  the  land 
formerly  worked  with  profitable  results  may  be 
worked  again,  and  will  be  worked  again  with  similar 
advantage. 

"What  is  said  regarding  the  increasing  poverty  of 
the  plantation  Southerner  is  said  in  no  spirit  of  re- 
proach. It  is  his  misfortune  to  be  a  part  of  a  system 
that  is  slowly  but  surely  passing  away.  The  labor 
upon  which  he  formerly  depended  is  gradually  leav- 
ing him.  Part  of  it  is  going  West,  and  part  is  being 
absorbed  by  the  cottonseed  oil  mills,  the  new  rail- 
ways, the  tobacco  factories,  and  the  various  other  new 
enterprises  being  brought  into  existence  by  the  new 
spirit  of  enterprise,  as  exemplified  in  the  history 
of  the  successes  of  Hammett,  Moses,  Gates,  Carr, 
and  others.  The  Southern  planter  created  the  cotton- 
producing  industry.  By  means  of  it  alone  he 
made  the  South  rich  and  powerful.  The  system  by 
which  his  success  was  attained  fell  with  the  insti- 
tution of  slavery.  Entwined  as  our  pride  and  affec- 
tions are  in  the  old  planting  system  and  all  that  is 
associated  with  it,  we  cannot  see  it  pass  away  without 
regret;  but  as  we  look  for  success  in  the  future  we 
must  recognize  the  fact  that  new  ideas  of  life  have 
taken  a  firm  hold  of  the  South;  and,  to  succeed  and 
prosper,  we  must  spin  cotton,  or  farm,  alike,  in  the 
light  of  the  new  order  of  things. 

The  West  never  did  offer  the  opportunity  to  ac- 
cumulate wealth  in  farming  that  is  now  offered  to 
any  one  in  the  South.     Rich  as  her  other  resources 


94  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

are  suddenly  discovered  to  be,  she  was  once  rich  as 
the  result  of  farming;  and  it  is  idle  to  claim  that  there 
is  less  profit  in  working  land  by  free  labor  than  by 
slave  labor.  There  would  seem  to  be  no  reason 
why  farm  lands  in  the  South  to-day  should  not  be 
one  of  the  best  of  all  the  opportunities  for  invest- 
ment she  is  offering." 

This  letter  analyzes  the  South 's  industrial  condi- 
tion, and  points  the  way  of  the  New  South — a  new 
South  of  varied  and  intensive  agriculture,  of  manu- 
factures, of  educated  and  skilled  labor,  of  thrift 
and  economy — a  new  South  turning  away  from  the 
sole  business  of  cotton  culture,  and  utilizing  in  manu- 
facturing industries  its  vast  and  varied  resources. 

It  was  a  favorite  belief  of  Tompkins  that  the  early 
South,  during  the  eighteenth  century  and  the  begin- 
ning of  the  nineteenth,  had  surpassed  the  North  in 
commerce,  manufactures,  and  agriculture,  and  that 
Southern  superiority  had  been  destroyed  by  slavery. 
The  abolition  of  slavery  set  free  the  South  for  a 
career  of  industrial  development.  Tompkins  saw 
this  career  already  beginning;  and  the  vision  of  its 
fulfillment  fired  him  with  enthusiasm  and  patriotic 
ambition.  He  became  immovably  fixed  in  the  belief 
that  the  South  was  capable  of  maintaining  any  in- 
dustries and  manufacturing  any  products  that  ex- 
isted anywhere  on  the  globe.  This  belief  was  the 
keynote  of  his  life. 


CHAPTER  VII 

BUILDER    OF    COTTON    OIL    MILLS 

THE  first  large  constructive  work  QfJIompkins-^ 
was  to  utilize  a  waste  productof  the  cotton 
plantation^  There  was  no  wastefulness  in 
the  Old  Southmor^  costly  or  more  conspicuous  than 
the  throwing  away  of  cottonseed.  Heaped  up  in 
piles  near  the  cotton  gins,  where  they  had  been 
dumped  out  by  the  ginners,  thousands  of  tons  of 
seed,  worth  millions  of  dollars,  lay  rotting  in  the  open 
air,  applied  to  no  use  except  occasionally  a  very 
limited  use  as  'crude  fertilizer.  Year  by  year  the 
seed  pile  would  grow,  until  it  became  a  small  hill, 
forming  a  feature  of  the  plantation  skyline.  Tomp- 
kins in  boyhood  frolics  with  negro  companions  had 
played  hide-and-seek  or  fought  mimic  battles  on  the 
big  seed  piles.  He  was  now  to  utilize  these  moun- 
tains of  waste. 

The  sale  of  an  engine  soon  after  his  arrival  in 
Charlotte  was  the  beginning  of  a  business  connection 
which  started  him  on  a  career  to  revolutionize  and 
recreate  the  cottonseed  industry  of  the  South.  *'I 
landed  in  Charlotte,"  he  writes  in  his  memoirs, 
"about  the  same  time  as  Fred  Oliver.  He  was  a  na- 
tive of  Cohoes,  N.  Y.,  and  came  here  from  Paterson, 
N.  J.,  with  about  $25,000  capital.  He  had  heard  of 
the  oil  in  cottonseed  and  came  here  to  investigate 
the  possibilities  that  lay  in  this  field.  He  bought 
the  old  flour  mill  building  and  converted  it  into  a 

95 


96  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

cottonseed  oil  mill.  I  sold  him  a  Westinghouse 
engine,  and  this  led  to  an  engagement  to  help  him 
construct  the  oil  mill.  In  another  year  Fred  Oliver 
with  his  brothers  built  a  large  mill  in  Columbia;  and 
I  designed  and  supervised  the  building  of  the  mill 
as  an  engineering  proposition.  Thus  I  became 
launched  in  the  cotton  oil  mill  business." 

At  this  time  the  cotton  oil  mill  business  was  prac- 
tically monopolized  by  the  American  Cotton  Oil 
Trust.  Tompkins  was  quick  to  see  that  the  mills 
of  the  trust  were  below  the  standard  of  efficiency. 
Nor  was  he  slow  to  profit  by  this  condition.  He 
resolved  to  organize  a  new  company  for  the  construc- 
tion of  new  mills  with  new  machinery.  The  story 
is  graphically  told  by  his  fellow  worker,  Richard 
H.  Edmonds: 

"In  the  spring  of  1886  Tompkinc,  on  his  way  to 
New  York,  stopped  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  Manu- 
facturers' Record  office.  He  was  going  to  New 
York  to  sell  a  cottonseed  oil  mill  to  the  American 
Cotton  Oil  Co.,  which  had  recently  been  formed 
and  which  was  then  buying  up  nearly  all  existing 
mills.  He  stated  that  while  he  questioned  the  wis- 
dom of  some  of  the  purchases  that  company  was 
making,  he  was  acting  for  a  client  for  the  sale  of  an 
oil  mill.  It  was,  in  his  opinion,  he  said,  impossible 
for  that  company  to  control  the  cotton  oil  trade;  for 
modern,  up-to-date  mills  could  be  constructed  which 
in  many  respects  would  be  superior  to  some  of  the 
mills  the  company  was  accepting.  His  views  were 
so  interesting  that  he  was  asked  to  write  a  series  of 
articles  for  the  Manufacturers'  Record  explaining  how 
independent  mills  could  be  built  and  operated  profi- 
tably in  competition  with  the  big  combination.  In 
a  week  or  two  article  No.  1  of  the  series  was  received 


BUILDER  OF  COTTON  OIL  MILLS  97 

and  published,  with  the  announcement  that  it  would 
be  followed  by  other  chapters.  After  waiting  a  week 
or  two  for  the  second  instalment,  urgent  letters  and 
telegrams  brought  another  visit  from  Tompkins.  He 
explained  that  the  more  he  had  studied  the  matter, 
the  more  he  had  become  impressed  with  the  possibili- 
ties of  a  new  cotton  oil  company.  The  facts  which 
he  had  prepared  for  the  proposed  series  of  papers 
had  been  turned  into  a  prospectus  for  the  organiza- 
tion of  a  company  which  he  was  endeavoring  to 
form  with  $2,500,000  capital." 

The  article  by  Tompkins,  above  referred  to  by 
Edmonds,  the  first  of  a  proposed  series,  is  not  only 
an  interesting  study  of  the  Southern  cotton  oil  in- 
dustry as  it  then  existed,  but  also  a  very  interesting 
picture  of  Tompkins:  his  plans  and  purposes,  his 
methods  of  thought  and  business,  his  powers  of  ob- 
servation, analysis,  and  deduction.  The  article  is  too 
long  to  quote  in  full,  but  extracts  will  suffice. 

COTTONSEED      OIL     MILLS — ADVANTAGES     OF     NEW 
MACHINERY 

"Probably  few  large  works  have  ever  been  con- 
structed with  so  little  engineering  skill  and  so  much 
useless  expenditure  of  money  as  the  average  cotton- 
seed oil  mill;  and  there  are  probably  few  businesses 
wherein  the  cost  of  working  a  fixed  quantity  of  raw 
material  into  product  has  been  so  great  in  proportion 
to  what  is  actually  accomplished  as  has  been  the 
case  in  the  cottonseed  oil  business;  but  in  spite  of 
exorbitant  first  cost  and  excessive  running  expendi- 
tures, profits  have,  nevertheless,  been  large.  Most 
of  the  mills  built  in  the  South  were  put  up  by  a  class 
of  men  known  as  millwrights  and  carpenters,  who 


98  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

delighted  in  slow-running  shafting  and  ponderous 
gear  wheels;  and  the  more  complex  the  appearance  of 
the  belting,  elevators,  conveyors,  and  so  forth,  the 
more  successful  the  result  was  considered.  Only  one 
mill  built  up  to  the  present  time  can  be  said  to  have 
been  built  with  any  approximation  to  engineering 
economy  and  results;  and  no  question  exists  but  what 
it  is  far  short  of  possibilities  of  improved  construc- 
tion and  profitable  operation. 

*'The  best  mill  now  running  should  produce  prod- 
ucts out  of  one  ton  of  seed  which  will  sell  for  $4.92 
more  than  the  products  produced  out  of  the  same 
ton  by  an  old  and  unimproved  mill,  and  for  $2.15 
more  than  the  product  produced  out  of  the  same  ton 
by  an  old  and  improved  mill.  New  designs  have 
been  made,  however,  by  which  at  least  one  dollar 
per  ton  still  further  may  be  produced  in  the  shape 
of  additional  product. 

"Besides  this  saving  in  price  of  product  there  is  a 
similar  saving  in  working  expenses  of  old  and  new 
mills,  so  that,  when  a  system  of  new  mills  would  be 
running  at  anything  near  cost,  the  present  existing 
mills  would  be  running,  as  a  system,  at  a  loss  of  many 
thousands  of  dollars  per  day.  Many  operations 
done  in  the  old  mills  by  hand  are  done  in  the  new  and 
improved  mills  by  machinery,  and  in  a  much  better 
and  cheaper  manner. 

"Competition  will,  of  course,  alter  the  price  of  oil: 
but  a  new  system  of  mills  could  stand  a  far  greater 
reduction  than  the  old  ones.  In  fact,  with  new  mills 
running  on  prices  which  left  no  profit,  the  old  ones 
would  be  suffering  enormous  losses. 

"The  owners  of  mills  properly  constructed  could 
pay  farmers  three  dollars  per  ton  more  for  seed,  sell 
oil  to  consumers  ten  cents  per  gallon  less,  and  still 


BUILDER  OF  COTTON  OIL  MILLS  99 

make  fair  profits,  under  circumstances  under  which 
old  mills  would  run  at  very  heavy  loss. 

*'A  large  majority  of  existing  mills  are  practically 
under  one  management;  and  it  may  be  assumed  to  be 
one  of  the  specific  aims  of  that  management  to  pre- 
vent the  construction  of  any  new  mill,  and  control 
the  production  and  sale  of  cottonseed  oil. 

*'The  locations  of  many  old  mills  were  determined 
by  local  influences,  such  as  the  desire  of  local  capital- 
ists to  build  up  a  town,  the  enterprise  of  citizens 
at  points  not  the  most  favorable  for  mills;  and  in 
many  cases  they  are  old  mills  constructed  for  other 
purposes  and  turned  into  oil  mills,  which  cannot  be 
economically  adapted  for  the  application  of  approved 
design  and  machinery,  now  possible  to  obtain  for 
oil  mill  construction.  Poorly  built  as  the  existing 
mills  are,  and  badly  situated  as  many  of  them  also 
are,  as  above  indicated,  being  under  one  manage- 
ment, a  single  mill  could  be  forced  out  of  competition 
without  serious  detriment  to  them  as  one  organiza- 
tion. 

"But  with  a  capital  of  5  million  dollars  there  could 
be  built  twenty  mills,  of  one  hundred  to  150  tons  per 
24  hours  capacity,  each  at  a  cost  of  $125,000,  and 
still  have  a  working  capital  left  of  $125,000  for  each 
mill  also,  making  it  unnecessary  to  borrow  money 
at  the  high  rate  of  interest  now  prevalent  throughout 
the  South.  Locations  should  also  be  selected  for 
these  mills  such  that  freight  rates  both  for  seed 
and  product  could  be  reduced  far  below  present  cost 
to  existing  mills.  The  cash  cost  of  existing  mills  has 
probably  averaged  more  than  four  times  what  mills 
could  at  present  be  built  for  at  equal  capacity;  be- 
sides this  original  cost  they  have  been  pooled  into  a 
combination  on  terms  and  conditions,  which  is  prac- 


100  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

tically  the  equivalent  of  watering  the  stock  to  an 
unknown  extent. 

"It  is  probably  fair  to  assume  that  any  dividend 
which  may  be  earned  will  be  for  division  on  a  capital 
of  40  million  dollars  or  over.  The  only  ostensible 
property  to  represent  this  enormous  capital  is  a 
lot  of  old  mills,  most  of  which  should  have  been 
abandoned  years  ago,  and  would  have  been,  excepl 
for  the  enormous  profits  in  the  business,  and  also  a 
lot  of  old  machinery.  In  fact,  probably  90 
per  cent,  of  properties  in  the  combination  were  fit 
to  be  put  into  the  scrap  pile  when  they  went  in. 
Whatever  is  the  total  capital  of  the  combination,  it 
represents  properties  taken  in;  and  much  evidence 
has  been  observed  in  proof  of  the  assertion  that  none 
of  it  is  in  money. 

"The  capital  necessary  to  build  twenty  mills,  as 
indicated,  would  be  2|  million  dollars;  and  with  a 
cash  capital  of  5  million  dollars  there  would  be  left 
2 J  million  dollars  for  running  capital.  A  company 
formed  now  would  have  the  following  advantages: 
a  series  of  mills  the  best  possible  to  be  built  in  the 
present  state  of  the  art,  all  new,  in  the  best  possible 
location  with  regard  to  seed  and  freight;  not  a  dollar 
in  old  and  worthless  property;  ample  running  capital; 
on  an  average  more  oil  per  ton  than  the  best  mill 
now  gets;  seed  at  less  cost  per  ton  than  the  best  mill 
now  does;  more  concentrated  organization;  position 
to  do  the  planter  good  instead  of  harm;  low  rate  of 
insurance  and  the  fact  of  being  organized  in  the  direc- 
tion of  benefit  for  the  general  public  as  well  as  for 
the  benefit  of  the  organizers,  and  not  to  force  the  public 
to  pay  an  exorbitant  price  on  a  product  in  order  to 
pay  a  dividend  on  a  fictitious  capital." 

The  ideas  and  plans  thus  outlined  were  carried  out 


BUILDER  OF  COTTON  OIL  MILLS  101 

with  perfect  success.  The  undertaking  was  gigantic, 
not  only  in  magnitude  but  also  because  the  conditions 
of  fulfilment  demanded  immediate  completion.  The 
company  was  organized  as  the  Southern  Cotton  Oil 
Company,  with  Henry  C.  Butcher,  of  Philadelphia, 
president;  Frederick  Oliver,  of  Columbia,  S.  C,  man- 
ager; John  Oliver,  of  Columbia,  S.  C,  secretary  and 
treasurer,  and  Daniel  A.  Tompkins,  of  Charlotte, 
N.  C,  engineer.  The  story  of  the  work  is  graphic- 
ally told  by  Richard  H.  Edmonds. 

"The  money  was  soon  raised.  Some  of  the  sub- 
scribers of  the  stock  were  great  packing  interests  who 
were  afraid  to  let  their  connection  be  known  lest 
they  should  be  discriminated  against  by  the  oil  mill 
combination,  upon  which  they  then  depended  for 
their  supply.  One  of  them  publicly  denied  any  con- 
nection with  the  company,  although  a  large  subscriber 
to  the  stock.  To  meet  this  situation  and  make  cer- 
tain of  providing  an  ample  oil  supply  for  these  con- 
cerns, Tompkins  determined  that  the  new  mills 
should  be  completed  in  time  to  crush  the  coming 
crop.  It  was  then  about  March  or  April.  Plans 
were  put  under  way,  draftsmen  and  engineers  put 
to  work  to  provide  the  drawings  for  eight  mills  to 
cost  about  $250,000  each.  Sites  were  selected  at 
several  points  in  the  Carolinas,  Atlanta,  Little  Rock, 
and  at  some  Texas  towns.  To  design  eight  mills,  to 
select  locations  at  widely  scattered  and  strategic 
points,  to  contract  for  buildings  and  machinery  in 
April  or  May,  and  guarantee  their  completion  by 
September  or  early  October,  was  a  task  which,  con- 
sidering the  conditions  in  the  South  in  1C86  as  com- 
pared with  recent  years,  has  not,  I  believe,  been 
equalled  since. 

During  the  construction  period  I  was  occasionally 


102  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

in  Tompkins'  office,  but  he  was  too  busy  crowding 
the  work  to  give  the  details.  That  fall  his  partner 
\  old  me  the  story  of  the  engineering  and  construction 
work,  of  the  daily  telegraphic  reports  that  Tompkins 
got  from  every  mill  as  to  its  exact  status;  and,  as  one 
mill  after  another  was  reported  as  completed,  the 
message  went  back,  "Turn  on  steam,"  and  every 
mill  moved  olf  in  perfect  working  order.  That  was 
an  achievement  rarely  equalled  even  in  these  days, 
when  the  facilities  for  construction  work  have  been 
multiplied  many  times  as  compared  with  conditions 
in  1886.  In  those  days  it  seemed  that  Tompkins 
could  have  nearly,  if  not  quite,  equalled  Edison  in 
his  ability  to  work  twenty  hours  a  day  and  sleep 
four.  I  have  sometimes  wondered  if  during  that 
period  he  really  knew  a  home  except  the  sleeping 
car,  and  even  in  a  sleeping  car  he  must  have  been  too 
busy  planning  and  working  grudgingly  to  have 
yielded  up  many  hours  to  sleep." 

This  remarkable  achievement  was  the  beginning  of 
a  long  career  of  cotton  oil  mill  construction.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  follow  that  career  in  detail.  For 
twenty  years  as  builder,  designer,  and  investor, 
Tompkins  promoted  the  cotton  oil  industry.  As  a 
missionary  for  cottonseed  utilization  he  canvassed 
the  South,  addressing  chambers  of  commerce,  boards 
of  trade,  merchants'  associations,  farmers'  conven- 
tions, legislators,  capitalists,  and  teachers.  \Mienever 
and  wherever  an  audience  was  ready  he  was  ready 
to  address  them.  Nor  did  he  confine  himself  to 
speeches.  By  means  of  editorials,  interviews,  news 
items,  and  communications  he  flooded  the  press  with 
articles  on  cottonseed  mills,  cottonseed  fertilizers, 
cottonseed  feed,  cottonseed  as  the  basis  of  dairying, 
tender  beef  from  cottonseed  meal,   cotton   oil   for 


BUILDER  OF  COTTON  OIL  MILLS  103 

cooking,  cotton  oil  for  salads,  and  the  like  topics. 
His  speeches  and  writings  aroused  interest  every- 
where. Mills  sprung  up  in  every  Southern  state. 
Whenever  sufficient  interest  was  aroused,  he  was 
ready  with  plans  for  mill  construction.  If  capital 
was  lacking,  he  helped  to  raise  it.  If  necessity  re- 
quired, he  furnished  the  entire  capital.  In  some 
cases  he  aroused  public  interest  by  an  address,  pro- 
cured stockholders,  effected  an  organization,  designed 
plans  for  the  mill,  supervised  the  mill  construction, 
furnished  the  machinery,  and  installed  it  in  the  build- 
ing, employed  the  superintendent,  bought  a  year's 
supply  of  seed,  and  started  off  the  mill — all  without 
cost  to  the  community.  He  dotted  the  South  with 
oil  mills. 

But  Tompkins  was  not  content  to  build  mills.  He 
was  constantly  making  improvements  in  mill  build- 
ings and  mill  machinery.  He  imparted  his  own  en- 
thusiasm to  the  mill  men,  and  sought  to  enlarge 
their  mental  horizons.  His  address  at  the  annual 
convention  of  the  Inter-State  Cottonseed  Crushers' 
Association  at  Old  Point  Comfort,  Va.,  exhibits  his 
power,  his  enthusiasm,  his  vision  of  the  evolution 
of  cottonseed  industries,  his  fine  perception  of  eco- 
nomic relations  between  allied  industries. 

THE    COTTONSEED    OIL    INDUSTRY 

"It  has  been  for  a  long  time  a  sort  of  fashion  to 
charge  against  people  of  the  South  a  want  of  enter- 
prise and  energy.  In  many  cases  the  credit  for  the 
very  work  which  the  South  is  doing  is  claimed  by 
the  people  of  some  other  section,  and  the  idea  put  to 
the  forward  that  alien  money  or  alien  talent  is  neces- 
sary for  the  success  of  a  proposed  enterprise. 


104  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

"WTiile  no  one  has  been  more  earnest  in  inviting 
capital  to  the  South  for  profitable  investment  and 
talent  for  profitable  employment,  because  of  the 
ample  room  and  opportunity  for  both,  yet  for  the 
best  interests  of  our  home  people  and  their  children 
hereafter,  it  is  not  desirable  for  these  to  relinquish 
to  others  the  foremost  positions  or  the  best  oppor- 
tunities. 

"The  cotton  oil  industry  is  one  which  has  been 
developed,  to  all  practical  purposes,  exclusively  in 
the  South  and  by  Southern  people.  It  is  an  industry 
in  which  the  enterprise  and  energy  of  our  home  people 
are  made  manifest  whenever  self-reliance  is  one  of  the 
elements  in  the  proposition.  A  people  with  less 
self-reliance  and  less  steadiness  of  purpose  could 
never  have  rescued  civilization  from  the  dangers 
that  confronted  it  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  after 
the  Civil  War.  In  the  production  of  the  best  and 
cheapest  raw  material  for  clothing  and  in  such  enor- 
mous quantities,  and  also  in  the  development  of  such 
a  splendid  industry  in  producing  food  products  out 
of  cottonseed — the  demonstration  of  the  wonderful 
originality  and  capability  of  the  people  of  the  South 
has  been  made  perfect. 

No  business  men  in  America  are  entitled  to  more 
credit  than  the  cotton  oil  mill  men.  You  have 
brought  out  of  nothing  a  busiuess  which  you  have 
developed  into  values  reaching  into  millions.  Even 
in  the  production  of  the  crude  products,  oil,  hulls, 
meal,  and  lint,  the  cottonseed  industry  has  become 
one  of  very  large  proportions. 

"Still  greater  advantages  will  come,  however, 
from  still  further  development,  in  which  knowledge 
and  skill  and  industry  will  change  values  by  the  barrel 
or  by  the  ton  into  values  by  the  pint  and  pound.  The 


BUILDER  OF  COTTON  OIL  MILLS  105 

intensive  system  of  agriculture  is  responsible  for 
wonderful  strides  in  that  competition.  By  skilful 
and  scientific  manipulation  an  acre  of  ground 
is  now  made  to  yield  three  times  the  product  of 
former  years.  The  same  intensive  idea  in  steam 
engineering  has  made  it  possible  to  produce  from  a 
ton  of  coal  three  times  as  much  power  as  formerly. 
The  same  intensive  idea  can  easily  wrench  from 
a  ton  of  cottonseed  three  times  the  present 
values. 

"How  to  go  forward  to  this  goal  is  the  problem 
we  must  all  keep  before  us.  First  of  all,  we  must 
look  to  the  proper  construction  of  the  machinery  and 
the  building  in  order  to  reduce  the  expenses.  The 
item  of  insurance  is  excessive.  The  oil  mills  in  this 
part  of  the  country  pay  an  average  rate  of  about  3 
per  cent.  The  very  best  of  them  do  not  pay  less 
than  three  quarters  of  1  per  cent.,  and  there  are 
not  a  dozen  mills  in  this  class.  Cotton  mills,  carry- 
ing on  a  business  even  more  hazardous,  easily  insure 
for  one  fifth  to  one  quarter  of  1  per  cent.  \Miy  this 
differences^  It  is  entirely  a  question  of  construction 
and  equipment.  It  is  perfectly  possible  so  to  con- 
struct an  oil  mill  and  equip  it  with  fire-protecting 
apparatus  that  it  will  insure  as  easily  as  a  cotton 
mill.  The  same  features  of  construction  and  manage- 
ment that  conduce  to  low  insurance  also  conduce  to 
more  cleanly  premises,  and  hence  a  better  grade  of 
products.  The  condition  of  the  average  oil  mill, 
as  to  cleanliness,  is  something  appalling.  \^Tien 
it  is  considered  that  practically  all  of  the  products 
are  for  food,  and  a  large  part  food  for  man,  the  filthy 
condition  of  most  mills  is  a  lasting  reproach,  and  will 
help  keep  alive  the  prejudice  against  cotton  oil  as 
an  article  of  food. 


106  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

"But  the  greatest  step  toward  increasing  the  prof- 
its Hes,  of  course,  in  continuing  the  processes  to  greater 
refinements  and  diversifying  the  products,  making 
a  more  finished  article  for  the  market.  The  usual 
process  of  refining  yields  'summer  yellow.'  If  this 
process  is  conducted  with  suflficient  care  and  skill, 
the  result  may  be  called  'butter  oil.'  If  this  oil 
be  properly  manipulated  with  other  materials,  a  fine 
butter  substitute  may  be  produced  and  sold  direct 
from  the  mills,  instead  of  shipping  the  oil  to  Holland 
to  be  manipulated  and  sold  from  there.  If  the  oil 
is  properly  treated,  the  finest  salad  oil  may  be  made. 
This  is  a  mere  matter  of  skill.  Ten  years  ago  it  was 
as  diflScult  to  find  even  an  ordinary  refiner  as  it  now 
is  to  find  a  first-class  one.  More  attention  is  now 
being  paid  to  our  education  in  these  lines,  and  it 
should  not  be  long  before  we  can  find  sufiScient  skill 
to  make  table  oils  equal  to  those  of  Europe.  We 
now  export  $12,000,000  worth  of  oil,  half  of  which 
goes  to  France,  where  it  is  refined  and  manipulated 
to  suit  the  palates  of  a  population  accustomed  to 
olive  oil.  It  ought  to  be  and  is  possible  to  make 
salad  oil  here  from  cottonseed  which  is  superior 
to  imported  olive  oil,  for  the  reason  that  we  can  al- 
ways have  fresh  cotton  oil,  while  the  imported  oils 
must  of  necessity  be  older.  The  matter  of  freshness 
is,  in  the  present  state  of  the  art,  a  most  important 
one.  Certain  changes  take  place  in  oils  with  age 
no  matter  in  what  way  they  are  kept.  The  changes 
are  always  for  the  worse,  and  tend  toward  rancidity. 
It  is  not  impossible,  however,  that  a  way  may  be 
found  to  remedy  even  this  trouble.  A  wide  field  is 
open  for  the  manipulation  of  oil  so  that  when  it  is 
used  for  cooking  there  will  be  no  disagreeable  odours. 
Great  progress  has  been  made  in  this  line,  and  several 


BUILDER  OF  COTTON  OIL  MILLS  107 

companies  now  claim  to  turn  out  such  products. 
But  the  best  of  them  fall  far  short  of  perfection. 

*'The  manufacture  of  fine  soap  is  an  important 
direction  to  look  in.  A  number  of  mills  now  make  a 
crude  soap  from  their  refuse  products  and  some  make 
good  laundry  soap  from  refined  oil.  It  is  but  a  step 
farther  to  make  fine  toilet  soap.  There  is  a  wide 
difference  between  the  best  laundry  soap  which  sells 
at  5  cents  per  pound  and  some  French  toilet  soaps 
selling  at  $1.50  per  pound.  The  difference  is  mostly 
a  matter  of  skill  and  knowledge,  and  but  slightly  a 
matter  of  raw  material.  In  the  manufacture  of  soap 
an  important  by-product  is  glycerine,  which  itself 
is  capable  of  great  degrees  of  refining,  and  which,  if 
handled  to  the  limit,  would  add  greatly  to  the  value 
of  the  output.  It  is  difficult  to  set  any  limit  to  which 
the  chemical  end  of  the  business  may  not  be  worked. 

"A  much  more  simple  branch  of  the  business, 
and  one  w^hich  we  already  have  the  skill  to  prosecute, 
is  the  proper  disposition  of  the  hulls  and  meal. 
Fifteen  years  ago  hulls  were  burned  as  a  fuel.  Their 
fuel  value  is  from  50  to  75  cents  per  ton,  according 
to  the  price  of  coal  in  the  locality.  We  now  sell 
hulls  as  a  cattle  food  at  $5  per  ton,  and  would  consider 
it  idiotic  to  burn  such  a  valuable  foodstuff.  But 
yet  we  bury  in  the  ground  a  large  quantity  of  cotton- 
seed meal,  calling  it  a  fertilizer,  when  it  really  is  a 
foodstuff,  just  as  we  once  called  hulls  a  fuel.  There 
is  no  more  denying  the  fact  that  meal  will  act  as  a 
fertilizer  than  there  was,  or  is,  that  hulls  will  act  as  a 
fuel.  But  on  the  same  reasoning  we  might  call  rose- 
wood a  fuel,  or  cottonseed  a  fertilizer.  It  is  a  ques- 
tion of  valuation  for  the  purpose.  On  the  present 
market  the  experiment  stations  give  a  fertilizer's 
valuation  to  cottonseed  $10  per  ton  and  cottonseed 


108  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

meal  $20,  while  we  know  that  cottonseed  has  a  value 
in  its  mill  product  of  $20  per  ton,  and  the  experiment 
station  valuation  on  meal  as  a  foodstuff  is  $35  per 
ton.  Hence  it  is  more  profitable  to  take  meal  out 
of  the  fertilizer  class  than  it  is  cottonseed  itself. 

*'In  transferring  meal  from  the  fertilizer  class  to 
the  foodstuff  class  a  most  curious  result  occurs, 
nothing  less  than  the  creating  of  a  fertilizer  value 
after  feeding,  which  is  about  equal  to  the  original 
fertilizing  value  of  the  meal.  Mr.  Edwin  Lehman 
Johnson,  of  Clemson  College,  has  made  a  special 
study  of  this  matter,  and  he  gives  the  results  of  some 
actual  experiments  as  below.  He  fed  five  cows  on 
cottonseed  meal  and  hulls. 

Meal,  20  lbs.  per  day  at  $20        .      .  20 
Hulls,  80  lbs.  per  day  at  $3   .      .      .12 

Cost  of  daily  ration  .      .  .32 

They  excreted  177 J  pounds,  which,  when  air  dried, 
yielded  59  pounds,  having  a  valuation  of  $0,297.  The 
cost  of  all  the  feed  per  animal  was  $0,064.  The 
fertilizer  produced  $0,059.  Hence  the  animals  were 
sustained  and  fattened  at  a  daily  net  cost  of  half  a 
cent.  The  value  of  the  excreted  fertilizer  was  93 
per  cent,  of  the  cost  of  the  food. 

It  is  found  that  a  steer  weighing  1,000  pounds  may  be 
fed  for  100  days  on  a  daily  ration  of  6  pounds  of  meal 
and  24  pounds  of  hulls,  and  gain  about  300  pounds  in 
weight.  If  the  hulls  from  a  10,000,000-bale  cotton 
crop  (say  4,000,000  tons  of  seed,  besides  planting 
seed)  were  used  in  this  manner,  they  would  feed 
1,600,000  cattle  for  100  days.  The  meal  would  feed 
4,000,000  cattle.  Thus  by  supplementing  the  hulls 
with  some  other  rough  forage  from  the  farm,  it  is 


BUILDER  OF  COTTON  OIL  MILLS  109 

seen  that  the  products  from  one  ton  of  seed  will 
fatten  one  steer. 

"It  is  a  great  mistake  for  the  Southern  States  to 
be  so  much  in  want  of  good  beef  that  they  bring 
immense  trainloads  from  Chicago,  while  they  have 
at  their  doors  enough  of  the  best  possible  feed  for 
more  than  a  million  beef  cattle.  The  full  apprecia- 
tion of  this  condition  will  work  wonders  for  the 
prosperity  of  this  section.  Systematic  cattle  feeding 
will  induce  systematic  butchering,  which  will  develop 
into  packing  houses.  Packing  houses  diversify 
their  products  to  an  endless  degree.  We  shall  then 
have  a  logical  plant,  using  cottonseed  as  a  raw  ma- 
terial. The  beef  cattle  fattened  on  cottonseed  prod- 
ucts will  produce  fertilizers  for  the  enrichment  of 
cotton  farmers.  When  slaughtered,  they  will  yield 
tallow  and  oleo,  which  may  be  mixed  with  cotton 
oil  for  lard  compound  and  butter  substitutes. 

"  The  cotton  oil  business  in  some  degree  of  intensi- 
fied development  is  as  important  an  adjunct  to  the 
farm  community  as  a  ginnery.  There  is  room  for 
a  small  plant  in  every  cotton-producing  community. 
It  has  been  the  fashion  in  the  past  for  farmers  move- 
ments to  oppose  oil  mills.  But  it  may  easily  be  seen 
that  a  thrifty  community  derives  great  profit  from 
the  oil  mill,  and  nothing  will  more  quickly  tend  to 
bring  about  a  full  understanding  of  the  matter  than 
the  extensive  feeding  of  cattle.  And  this  very  con- 
dition will  enhance  the  fertility  of  the  soil  and  advance 
the  condition  of  the  farmer.  It  becomes,  therefore, 
clear  that  there  are  ample  fields  open  for  the  further 
development  of  values  out  of  this  business  that  are 
and  may  become  auxiliary  to  it." 

After  locating  mills  in  the  industrial  centres  of  the 
cotton-growing  states,  Tompkins  began  a  campaign 


110  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

for  small  mills  in  rural  districts.  "There  are  great 
possibilities,"  said  he,  "for  small  country  oil  mills. 
They  are  in  proximity  to  the  raw  material,  and  are 
relieved  of  freight  rates  both  on  the  raw  material 
and  on  most  of  their  products.  The  oil  that  may 
be  extracted  from  cottonseed  by  the  processes  now 
in  use  constitutes  but  15  per  cent,  of  the  whole  weight 
of  the  seed.  Hence,  if  a  mill  can  buy  seed  from  wag- 
ons at  its  doors  and  sell  its  meal  and  hulls  over  the 
counter,  so  to  speak,  it  has  saved  freight  on  100  per 
cent,  of  raw  material  and  85  per  cent,  of  finished 
product.  Working  on  this  basis,  and  not  attempting 
to  operate  a  mill  larger  than  can  supply  and  be  sup- 
plied by  its  wagon  territory,  there  is  every  hope  of 
permanent  success  for  country  oil  mills.  They  are 
analogous  to  the  cotton  mill  in  the  heart  of  cheap 
cotton  territory,  manufacturing  coarse  goods  at 
10  cents  per  pound,  where  the  cost  of  cotton  at  6  cents 
is  a  large  proportion  of  the  value  of  the  product. 
They  have  almost  a  prohibitive  advantage,  on  this 
particular  line  of  goods,  over  competitors  in  other 
districts  where  high  prices  prevail  for  raw  material. 
In  the  entire  cotton-growing  area  every  community 
must  have  its  oil  mill.  The  big  ones  (60  to  300  tons 
capacity  with  refineries)  and  the  little  ones  (20  to 
60  tons  capacity  with  cattle-feeding  and  fertilizer 
departments)  both  have  ample  room  for  operation." 

The  crusade  for  cotton  oil  mills  in  rural  districts 
was  waged  with  his  usual  energy  among  the  planters 
and  farmers  of  the  South  by  speeches,  lectures,  news- 
paper articles,  and  circular  letters;  and  was  attended 
with  the  usual  results.  The  story  of  this  work  is 
told  by  himself  with  characteristic  modesty,  no  hint 
being  given  of  his  own  agency  in  the  work. 

"During  the  last  spring  and  summer  no  less  than  a 


BUILDER  OF  COTTON  OIL  MILLS  111 

hundred  new  oil  mills  have  sprung  up,  the  average 
size  being  thirty  tons  of  seed  per  day.  Previous 
to  this  year  there  were  about  300  mills,  averaging  in 
size  about  seventy  tons.  This  year's  addition  is 
equal  to  33  per  cent,  of  the  whole  number  of  mills 
and  14  per  cent,  of  the  whole  crushing  capacity. 

"  Prominent  among  the  causes  leading  to  the  great 
increase  of  small  mills  is  the  increased  country  de- 
mand for  cottonseed  products.  No  business  has  been 
better  advertised  and  none  more  systematically 
investigated  and  fostered  by  the  general  government 
and  by  the  several  State  governments.  Agricultural 
bureaus  and  experiment  stations  of  each  of  the  cotton- 
growing  states  have  made  exhaustive  scientific  and 
practical  investigations  of  the  products,  with  the 
result  of  unanimously  approving  of  them  and  recom- 
mending them. 

"Fifteen  years  ago  cotton  planters  were  congratu- 
lating themselves  on  finding  sale  for  cottonseed,  which 
had  hitherto  been  thrown  away,  and  which  had  been 
a  positive  nuisance.  But  at  that  very  time  the  oil 
mills  had  cottonseed  hulls  on  their  hands  as  a  waste 
product  and  a  nuisance.  They  were  utilized  as  fuel 
to  run  the  mills,  but  even  that  did  not  consume  them 
all.  Compared  with  the  average  price  paid  for  coal, 
cottonseed  hulls  are  worth  for  fuel  less  than  $1  per 
ton. 

"During  the  past  ten  years  it  has  been  demon- 
strated that  the  real  value  of  cottonseed  hulls  is  as  a 
foodstuff  for  cattle.  As  such  the  true  value  ranges 
from  $4  to  $10  per  ton,  according  to  the  prevailing 
price  of  other  foodstuffs.  The  large  mills  have  made 
great  efforts  to  promulgate  this  fact,  and  have  even 
fed  large  herds  of  beef  cattle  on  their  own  account 
for  the  purpose  of  utilizing  the  hulls  and  for  advertis- 


112  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

ing  their  value,  so  that  now  the  value  of  all  cotton- 
seed products  is  well  known  in  the  most  remote 
districts. 

"With  the  understanding  of  the  uses  of  cotton- 
seed meal  and  hulls  as  foodstuff  for  cattle  there  came 
an  increasing  demand  for  these  products  from  the 
country  districts.  And  then  the  country  districts 
began  to  discover  that  they  were  shipping  away  their 
cottonseed  and  buying  back  only  a  part  of  them, 
and  paying  out,  counting  freights  and  hauling,  about 
as  much  as  they  received  for  the  seed.  Thus  the 
idea  of  country  mills  took  firm  root."  You  would 
never  suspect  that  the  writer  was  himself  the  mission- 
ary of  this  campaign  and  the  chief  builder  of  the  mills. 

His  career  as  a  builder  of  cotton  oil  mills  was 
modestly  credited  by  Tompkins  to  his  teachers,  em- 
ployers, and  associates: 

"Just  after  I  had  left  the  South  Carolina  Univer- 
sity, General  E.  P.  Alexander  built  an  oil  mill  in 
Columbia,  but  it  failed  for  the  reason  that  the  farm- 
ers would  not  haul  their  seed  to  market  and  sell  them. 
Gen.  Alexander's  efforts  were  the  first  important 
efforts  on  an  engineering  basis;  but  the  General  was 
a  military  man  and  not  an  industrial  man;  and,  be- 
sides, this  was  a  little  too  early  for  the  farmers,  who 
had  to  be  trained  a  little  before  they  would  sell  their 
seed. 

"My  connection  with  the  first  oil  mill  at  Charlotte 
led  to  my  undertaking  other  contracts,  and  the 
second  mill  I  built  was  in  Columbia  within  a  block 
of  where  General  Alexander's  mill  had  been  built.  I 
think  the  oil  mill  I  built  at  Columbia  for  the  Oliver 
Brothers  was  the  first  oil  mill  that  was  ever  built  to 
engineering  drawings;  and  the  plans  of  it  are  still  in 
use.     In  these  plans  I  incorporated  ideas  of  Alexan- 


BUILDER  OF  COTTON  OIL  IVflLLS  113 

der,  Holley,  Fritz,  and  Westinghouse.  It  was  more 
or  less  accidental  that  I  was  able  to  incorporate  the 
ideas  of  four  such  good  men;  hence,  the  success  of 
the  first  effort. 

"Methods  which  Mr.  Holley  had  used  in  introduc- 
ing the  Bessemer  process  served  me  well  in  develop- 
ing the  cotton  oil  business.  He  organized  a  com- 
pany and  helped  raise  the  capital  to  build  a  steel 
works.  Long  afterward  throughout  the  South  I 
helped  to  organize  companies  and  helped  to  raise  the 
capital  to  build  cottonseed  oil  mills.  Through  a 
period  of  twenty  or  twenty -five  years  or  more  I  was 
very  much  occupied  in  introducing  the  cotton  oil 
industry  into  new  sections. 

"I  asked  my  treasurer  the  other  day  how  many 
oil  mills  we  had  built,  and  he  said  about  250,  all  told. 
This  seems  almost  incredible,  but  besides  the  mills 
I  built  myself  a  number  of  others  were  built  from 
drawings  I  made." 

The  U.  S.  census  for  1900  (Bulletin  190,  by  Henry 
G.  Kittredge)  strikingly  emphasizes  the  importance 
and  the  growth  of  the  cottonseed  oil  industry : 

"Closely  allied  to  cotton  manufacturing  is  the 
cottonseed  oil  industry,  in  which  there  has  been  a 
great  revolution  within  late  years  in  the  utilization 
of  the  cottonseed,  in  obtaining  most  valuable  com- 
mercial by-products,  that  were  at  one  time  allowed 
to  go  to  waste  with  the  seed  in  the  form  of  manure. 
Cottonseed  was  a  garbage  in  1860,  a  fertilizer  in 
1870,  a  cattle  food  in  1880,  a  table  food  and  many 
things  else  in  1890. 

"The  manufacture  of  cottonseed  oil  and  all  of  its 
resultant  by-products  furnishes  one  of  the  best  ex- 
amples of  development  based  upon  the  utilization 
of  a  waste  product.    Eventually  the  entire  cottonseed 


114  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

crop  will  be  worked  through  the  cotton  oil  mills,  with 
the  exception  of  the  amount  reserved  for  planting." 
This  prediction  is  now  fulfilled;  its  accom- 
plishment is  due  chiefly  to  Daniel  A.  Tompkins,  who 
..  may  justly  be  called  the  Father  of  the  Southern 
Cotton  Oil  Industry. 


CHAPTER  Vin 

BUILDER    OF   COTTON   MILLS 

THE  building  of  Southern  cotton  mills  for 
spinning  and  weaving  was  a  long-cherished 
purpose  of  Tompkins.  He  says  in  his  me- 
moirs, "While  I  was  yet  in  the  North,  working  as 
machinist  and  draftsman  in  the  Bethlehem  Iron 
Works,  I  wrote  many  times  to  machinery  builders 
in  New  England  about  the  possibility  of  estabhshing 
cotton  mills  in  the  South.  Poor  as  the  South  then 
was,  I  was  impressed  with  the  fact  that  she  was  in- 
dulging in  cut-throat  competition  in  the  almost 
universal  process  of  cotton  raising.  I  thought  that 
if  a  portion  of  the  people  could  go  to  the  manufac- 
turing of  cotton  instead  of  raising  it,  the  result  would 
be  a  better  market  for  the  crop  and  a  better  price. 
It  seemed  wonderful  to  me  how  wedded  to  one  pur- 
suit the  South  had  become  through  the  institution 
of  slavery  and  cheap  labor. 

"When  there  was  added  to  this  the  confusion  and 
iniquity  of  the  reconstruction  period,  it  was  more 
and  more  clear  that  what  the  South  needed  was  for 
her  white  folks  to  go  to  work  and  increase  their  manu- 
factures in  any  way  available,  in  order  to  relieve  the 
competition  of  cotton  production.  I  thought  if  these 
new  principles  could  be  introduced,  the  South  ought 
to  become  a  very  prosperous  country.  It  was  be- 
cause of  this  opinion  that  I  gave  up  my  work  in  the 
North  and  went  South  again." 

115 


116  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

^\Tien  Tompkins  returned  South  the  development 
of  manufactures  had  already  begun  in  many  direc- 
tions, as  indicated  in  his  letter  to  the  Manufacturers^ 
Record.  Industrial  plants  were  springing  up  here 
and  there  for  the  manufacture  of  cotton,  iron, 
lumber,  tobacco,  and  other  raw  material;  coal 
and  other  minerals  were  being  mined;  truck  farming 
was  growing  rapidly  in  extent  and  efficiency; 
railway  and  steamship  lines  were  developing;  and 
the  banking  business  was  extending  its  power  and 
usefulness. 

But  cotton  industries,  while  growing  steadily,  did 
not  arouse  popular  enthusiasm,  for  their  influence 
on  the  popular  imagination  had  been  more  depress- 
ing than  inspiring.  A  cotton  mill  was  not  regarded 
as  a  desirable  acquisition  in  the  average  Southern 
community.  Aristocratic  ideals  of  leisurely  life 
on  large  plantations  dominated  social  sentiment; 
and  even  the** poor  whites" preferred  a  scant  existence 
as  free  yeomen  in  the  fields  or  woods  to  more  lucra- 
tive employment  in  cotton  mills.  Their  ideas  of 
freedom  were  repugnant  to  the  confinement  and  the 
continuity  of  work  in  cotton  mills.  Southern  lead- 
ers generally  were  not  hopeful  of  industrial  progress 
based  upon  cotton  industries.  The  overthrow  of 
slavery  seemed  to  foreshadow  the  overthrow  of 
cotton.  Although  the  cotton  crop  was  steadily 
increasing,  its  value  did  not  increase.  The  general 
despondency  about  cotton  was  so  great  that  some 
writers  maintained  that  **it  was  and  always  had  been 
a  curse  to  the  South,  and  the  South  were  well  rid  of  it 
forever." 

Not  so  Tompkins.  Although  he  had  long  resolved 
upon  a  career  in  iron,  a  resolution  based  upon  natural 
inclination  and  early  training  in  his  father's  black- 


BUILDER  OF  COTTON  MILLS  117 

smith  shop,  a  resolution  strengthened  and  confirmed 
by  his  long  apprenticeship  in  the  Troy  and  Bethlehem 
Iron  Works,  yet,  when  he  stood  facing  the  great  prob- 
lem of  Southern  development,  he  reasoned  it  out 
that  cotton,  the  South 's  greatest  product  in  the  past 
and  the  basis  of  the  power  of  the  Old  South,  was  the 
natural  basis  upon  which  to  build  the  New  South 
of  manufactures,  commerce,  and  diversified  agricul- 
ture. Having  reached  this  conclusion,  he  gave  him- 
self heart,  soul,  and  body  to  its  fulfilment.  The  ideas 
involved  in  it  he  elaborated,  exemplified,  illustrated, 
and  proclaimed  to  the  world,  in  a  thousand  ways,  on 
a  thousand  occasions.  He  never  ceased  to  think/ 
write,  and  talk  cotton. 

"Cotton  is  king  again,"  he  declared;  "Not  cotton 
in  the  fields  but  cotton  in  the  mills. 

"Not  only  is  cotton  the  world's  greatest  plant, 
but  the  production  by  the  South  of  ten  million  bales 
of  cotton  in  one  crop  is  the  world's  greatest  agricul- 
tural achievement. 

"The  cotton  plant  supplies  more  of  the  necessities 
of  the  human  race  than  is  supplied  from  any  other 
single  source. 

"Food,  clothing,  and  shelter;  these  are  the  prime 
needs  of  mankind.  We  have  now  from  the  cotton 
plant  the  following: 

"1.  For  Food, — Cottonseed  oil,  which,  when  pure 
and  well  refined,  is  in  all  respects  equal  to  olive  oil, 
and  when  it  contains  10  per  cent,  of  olive  oil,  simply 
to  give  it  a  flavor,  cannot  be  distinguished  from 
olive  oil  even  by  experts.  Cottonseed  meal,  as 
food  for  cattle,  sheep,  and  many  other  animals;  in  this 
way  it  contributes  to  our  supply  of  beef,  mutton, 
milk,  butter,  wool,  etc.,  etc. 

"2.  For  Clothing. — The   infinite  fabrics   that  are 


118  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

made  of  cotton  for  human  clothing,  domestic  articles, 
wadding  for  clothes,  quilts,  etc.,  etc. 

3.  For  Shelter. — Tents,  awnings,  and  sails  of  ships, 
roofs  of  houses,  etc.,  etc." 

Wherever  opportunity  presented,  he  proclaimed 
Ihese  ideas.  He  spoke  in  every  Southern  state  to 
gatherings  of  business  men,  capitalists,  laborers, 
planters,  farmers,  teachers,  and  politicians.  His 
contributions  to  Southern  newspapers  were  almost 
endless.  With  energy,  enthusiasm,  and  ceaseless 
activity  he  waged  an  industrial  war.  He  vas  as 
tireless  as  a  general  in  charge  of  actual  war.  His 
speech  in  Atlanta  before  the  Southern  Industrial 
League,  a  fair  type  of  his  speeches  during  this  cam- 
paign and  a  model  of  patriotic  appeal  and  logical 
argument,  sets  forth  briefly  but  clearly  the  possi- 
bilities of  cotton  manufacture  in  the  South. 

COTTON    MANUFACTURE    IN    THE    SOUTH 

"A  passenger  once  fell  overboard  a  Mississippi 
River  steamboat  at  a  point  where  the  river  was  about 
two  miles  wide  and  looked  as  though  it  might  be  a 
mile  deep.  The  man  couldn't  swim,  and  was  nat- 
urally very  much  frightened.  He  was  floundering 
about,  and  seemed  in  imminent  danger  of  drowning. 
The  pilot  from  the  first  kept  shouting  to  him,  'Stand 
up!'  and  when  he  finally  did  make  him  understand, 
and  the  man  stood  up,  he  foimd  that  the  water  was 
not  over  knee  deep. 

"Many  of  our  troubles  are  very  much  like  the 
troubles  of  this  man.  If  we  knew  the  surroundings, 
or  could  in  any  way  find  out  just  what  to  do,  we 
would  be  able  to  escape  a  sea  of  trouble  by  simply 
standing  up.     The  purpose  of  my  talk  to-day  will  be 


BUILDER  OF  COTTON  MILLS  119 

to  show  that  the  life-saving  thing  for  the  cotton 
farmer  is  the  cotton  factory. 

*'The  South  is  in  a  period  of  transition.  Whoever 
fails  to  recognize  this  fact  not  only  hazards  his  suc- 
cess in  life,  but  does  serious  injustice  in  misleading 
his  children. 

"In  the  period  immediately  succeeding  the  Civil 
War  the  people  of  the  South  suffered  least  from  the 
loss  of  their  property.  In  that  succeeding  period, 
lasting  from  one  to  two  decades,  there  was  an  un- 
ceasing struggle  with  anarchy  amidst  the  wreck  of 
former  conditions.  The  contrast  tended  all  the  time 
to  waste  the  energies  and  destroy  the  hopes  of  a 
people  who  in  more  ways  than  one  have  exhibited 
a  most  enduring  courage. 

"  Those  adverse  conditions  are  all  past.  The  worst 
of  them  began  to  pass  away  about  two  decades  ago. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  Spanish- American  War  they 
had  faded  into  insignificance.  Before  the  end  of  that 
war  the  last  of  the  shadows  had  disappeared.  The 
South  has  now  reached  that  condition  in  which  she 
has  the  prospect  of  as  perfect  freedom  from  disorder 
and  uncertainty  as  ever  before  in  her  history.  The 
time  has  now  come  for  us  to  take  our  bearings,  see 
where  we  stand,  and  lay  out  our  course  for  the  future. 

"Naturally  the  cotton  plant  appears  as  the  basis 
of  our  most  extended  industries.  We  could  not  ex- 
port seed  cotton,  and  so  we  developed  a  large  ginning 
interest  to  put  our  cotton  in  marketable  shape.  Now 
we  are  realizing  that  ginning  the  cotton  is  but  one 
short  step  toward  putting  it  in  the  most  profitable 
shape  for  market. 

"Ten  million  bales  of  cotton  in  the  seed  has  prac- 
tically no  market  value  in  that  shape.  Put  up  in 
ginners'  bales  it  has  a  local  value;  put  up  in  com- 


120  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

pressed  bales,  it  has  a  universal  value  of  say 
$400,000,000.  Manufactured  into  fine  sheetings, 
at  the  present  market  valuation,  it  would  be  worth 
$1,200,000,000,  an  increase  of  200  per  cent.  Manu- 
factured into  fine  organdies,  it  would  have  a  value 
of  $12,000,000,000,  and  in  finer  goods,  still  more. 

"Of  course  the  world  would  not  take  the  entire 
crop  in  the  shape  of  any  one  kind  of  goods,  but  it 
will  take  it  in  the  manufactured  state,  in  some  of  the 
manifold  styles  intermediate  between  the  above 
values,  so  that  it  is  safe  to  say  that  a  10,000, 000-bale 
crop  is  ultimately  retailed  as  cloth  for  $5,000,000,000. 

"The  question  to  be  settled  by  the  communities 
which  produced  this  raw  cotton  is:  How  much  of  it 
they  are  willing  to  part  with  at  $40  a  bale,  when  it 
ultimately  sold  at  $500.  And  up  to  what  price  per 
bale  are  they  prepared  to  bring  it  by  their  industry 
and  skill  in  manufacturing.? 

"  Cotton  is  now,  as  of  old,  the  great  resource  of  the 
South.  We  make  in  round  numbers  10,000,000  bales 
yearly. 

"This,  at  six  cents  per  pound,  yields  $300,000,000. 
Years  ago  5,000,000  bales  at  twelve  cents  also  yielded 
$300,000,000.  These  figures  naturally  bring  us  to 
ask  ourselves  what  gain  have  we  made  in  producing 
10,000,000  instead  of  5,000,000  bales.  They  lead 
us  to  talk  and  write  about  curtailing  the  production 
in  order  to  stimulate  the  price. 

"As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  production  of  10,000,000 
bales  of  cotton,  w^here  we  formerly  made  5,000,000, 
is  an  immense  gain.  It  is  only  by  producing  more 
and  more  cotton  at  cheaper  prices  that  we  still  control 
the  cotton  business  of  the  world.  If  we  should 
produce  less,  or  if  we  could  stimulate  the  price,  the 
cotton  supply  of  the  world  would  be  furnished  by 


BUILDER  OF  COTTON  MILLS  121 

other  countries.  India  is  pushing  us  closer  to-day 
than  ever  before  in  the  production  of  cotton.  The 
stimulated  price  would  at  once  stimulate  the  produc- 
tion in  India,  Egypt  and  South  America,  Turkestan 
and  other  countries.  The  world  needs  an  increasing 
quantity  of  cotton,  and  there  are  other  people  in 
the  world  who  have  suitable  land  and  who  will 
supply  the  demand  at  current  prices  if  we  do  not 
do  it. 

"If  we  rely  upon  cotton  production  alone  we  have 
before  us  the  prospect  of  being  under  the  necessity 
of  increasing  crops  at  cheaper  prices.  Failing  in  this, 
we  must  lose  the  monopoly.  But  it  would  seem  to 
be  useless  to  fight  to  hold  a  monopoly  that  means 
more  and  more  work  for  less  and  less  money. 

*'If  we  stop  with  the  production,  the  prospect 
is  not  bright;  but  by  the  manufacture  of  this  cotton, 
and  finding  markets  for  the  manufactured  article 
every  class  of  people  in  the  South  is  immeasurably 
benefitted. 

"Let  us  assume  that  an  average  Southern  state 
produces  1,000,000  bales.  This  crop  at  six  cents 
would  yield  $30,000,000. 

"If  made  into  cloth  worth  an  average  of  eighteen 
cents,  the  yield  would  be  $90,000,000,  yielding  a  profit 
to  the  state  of  $60,000,000. 

"This  profit  would  be  almost  entirely  in  the  shape 
of  actual  money  coming  from  foreign  markets  or  other 
parts  of  this  country.  Much  of  it  would  go  for  wages 
of  course,  but  it  would  go  to  home  people  who  have 
now  scant  opportunity  to  make  wages.  Much  of 
it  would  go  for  foodstuffs  that  the  working  people 
would  consume;  but  the  farmer  would  get  this  money 
for  potatoes,  chickens,  eggs,  butter,  milk,  fruit,  and 
a  lot  of  other  perishable  stuff  which  now  rots  on  the 


122  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

farm  for  want  of  a  market,  or  which  might  be  made, 
but  is  not,  for  want  of  a  market. 

"Out  of  the  increased  supply  of  money  brought 
into  the  state  the  farmer  would  probably  get  the 
greater  proportion  of  it  all.  The  price  of  cotton  to  a 
farmer  is  always  a  little  better  in  a  factory  town  than 
in  an  ordinary  cotton  market.  The  farmer  would, 
of  necessity,  get  the  money  paid  by  the  operatives 
for  almost  their  entire  living. 

"The  average  price  of  eighteen  cents  for  manufac- 
tured goods  is  about  what  the  cloth  would  be  worth  in 
the  shape  of  plain  white  cloth  and  ordinary  plaids 
and  ginghams.  This  price  is  by  no  means  the  limit  of 
what  might  be  reached.  With  knowledge  and  skill 
cotton  can  be  put  into  cloth  worth  thirty-six  cents, 
seventy-two  cents,  and  even  still  higher  figures. 

"We  have  seen  that  a  crop  which  in  the  raw  state 
is  worth  $30,000,000  easily  may  be  made  worth 
$90,000,000.  This  same  crop  at  thirty-six  cents 
would  yield  $180,000,000,  and  seventy-two  cents, 
$360,000,000,  or  more  than  the  entire  crop  of  the 
South  is  now  worth  in  bales  at  current  market  prices. 

"Nothing  is  necessary  for  the  accomplishment  of 
this  result  except  intelligent  thought  and  persistent 
labor.  The  labor  now  wasted  in  the  South  is  some- 
thing appalling.  As  the  more  intelligent  and  re- 
sponsible element  of  our  people  were  formerly 
discouraged  by  the  anarchy  that  succeeded  the  Civil 
War,  so  all  labor  in  the  South  became  discouraged  for 
want  of  regular  work  at  fair  cash  wages.  There  is 
now  no  longer  excuse  for  either  of  these  conditions. 
The  intelligent  and  responsible  part  of  each  commun- 
ity ought  to  formulate  plans  to  take  hold  of  some 
manufacturing  interest  to  an  extent  to  engage  their 
own  time  and  talents,  and  to  furnish  regular  and 


BUILDER  OF  COTTON  MILLS  123 

profitable  occupation  to  home  labor.  Then  discourage 
all  habits  of  loafing,  and  any  working  community 
cannot  help  but  prosper;  but  so  long  as  the  loafing 
habit  lives  in  any  community,  there  can  be  no  pros- 
perity in  that  community. 

"We  all  know  that  a  great  number  of  farmers  now 
work  scarcely  one  hundred  days  in  the  year.  With 
this  much  labor  they  produce  a  cotton  crop.  The 
factory  employee  works  three  hundred  days  in  the 
year.  This  leaves  the  farmer  with  two  hundred  less 
working  days  than  the  factory  operative.  With  a 
ready  cash  market  for  all  perishable  farm  products 
there  would  be  ample  encouragement  for  the  farmer 
to  fill  out  his  three  hundred  days  with  some  profitable 
work.  This  additional  work  would  not  be  drudgery, 
nor  unpleasant.  It  would,  of  course,  be  work  to  drive 
into  town  with  a  lot  of  fruit,  vegetables,  and  other 
farm  products,  and  sell  them  out  in  a  factory  village 
for  two,  four,  or  more  dollars;  but  there  is  nothing 
unpleasant  or  irksome  about  such  work,  and  the 
various  sums  so  obtained,  and  obtainable  any  day 
in  the  year,  would  help  out  mightily  in  producing 
cotton  at  a  price  that  would  compete  with  the  India 
man  and  the  Egyptian.  In  fact,  in  the  southeast, 
where  the  manufacture  of  cotton  is  well-established, 
many  farmers  make  more  money  out  of  their  mis- 
cellaneous crops  that  they  sell  to  the  factory  popula- 
tion, than  out  of  their  entire  cotton  crop. 

**If  we  contemplate  the  manufacture  of  the  entire 
crop  of  the  South,  the  figures  become  stupendous. 
For  example: 

10,000,000  bales  at  6  cts.  per  yard.  $  300,000,000 
10,000,000  bales  at  18  cts.  per  yard.  $  900,000,000 
10,000,000  bales  at  36  cts.  per  yard.     $1,800,000,000 


124  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

"For  any  such  results  as  these  we  have  not  yet  the 
population.  Even  that  part  of  the  population  we 
already  have  would  need  much  in  the  way  of  educa- 
tion and  training  before  any  very  large  proportion  of 
it  could  be  put  to  work.  But  the  figures  show  what 
an  opportunity  is  before  us.  Each  of  us  ought  to  do 
our  utmost  for  the  promotion  of  manufactures  and 
for  the  education  and  training  of  the  coming  genera- 
tion in  the  manufacture  of  cotton. 

"The  sentiment  in  this  direction  is  growing  con- 
spicuously. I  attended  not  long  ago  a  meeting  of  the 
Southern  Press  Association  held  at  Richmond,  Va. 
This  subject  of  growing  interest  in  industrial  develop- 
ment was  discussed  at  length,  and  it  was  the  general 
sentiment  that  the  rules  as  to  what  constituted  news 
needed  revision.  In  the  past  the  rule  was  that 
murder,  rape,  arson,  and  politics  were  news.  It  was 
agreed  that  in  the  future  the  rule  should  be  that 
Christian  progress,  education,  manufactures,  and 
commerce  should  be  news.  The  idea  is  that  benefi- 
cent works  rather  than  crime  shall  be  news. 

"It  is  a  growing  idea  that  as  the  papers  follow  up 
their  work  in  the  lines  indicated  a  great  move  will  be 
made  in  the  dissemination  of  reading  matter  that  will 
benefit  the  people  instead  of  that  which  feeds  morbid 
taste. 

"As  to  our  production.  All  the  cotton  now  made 
is  manufactured  by  somebody.  The  world's  require- 
ment seems  to  be  increasing,  and  we  seem  to  be  as 
well  situated  to  make  the  yarn  and  cloth  as  to  pro- 
duce the  cotton.  It  would  seem  as  if  the  limit  of  our 
manufacturing  interests  is  simply  the  labor  we  have, 
and  can  get,  until  we  manufacture  all  our  own 
production.  Such  an  ultimate  result  could  only  come 
after  long  time  and  after  vast  improvements  in  our 


BUILDER  OF  COTTON  MILLS  125 

educational  system.  But  the  opening  is  ready  for  an 
immediate  beginning,  and  is  wide  open  for  indefinite 
development. 

"The  undertaking  of  turning  all  our  cotton  into 
cloth  is  not  as  great  as  would  at  first  appear.  The 
factories  in  North  Carolina  now  manufacture  about 
300,000  bales  of  cotton  into  cloth  and  yarn  a  year. 
For  this  work  there  are  employed  in  round  numbers 
30,000  operatives.  This  work  is  done  with  about 
one  million  spindles.  It  must  be  understood,  of 
course,  that  I  speak  in  figures  that  are  even  and 
somewhat  approximate,  but  that  are  near  enough  the 
exact  figures  to  illustrate  this  argument  with  reason- 
able accuracy. 

"In  order  to  manufacture  the  entire  cotton  crop  of 
the  South  into  plain  white  and  coarse  colored  goods 
there  would  be  required  something  like  30,000,000 
spindles  and  1,000,000  operatives.  The  population  of 
the  Southern  States  may  be  reckoned  at  20,000,000. 
Does  anybody  doubt  that  out  of  this  20,000,000  there 
is  idle  time  enough  wasted,  even  by  those  who  would 
be  willing  to  work,  to  furnish  1,000,000  good  opera- 
tives in  cotton  factories  .^^  Go  into  any  ordinary 
cotton  market  town  where  no  cotton  factories  have  as 
yet  been  built,  and  at  any  time  from  7  a.  m.  to  10  p.  m. 
count  the  people  who  are  loafing,  and  the  number 
found  would  more  than  make  up  the  quota  of  people 
for  its  share  of  the  workers  necessary  to  manufacture 
the  cotton  crop.  This  loafing  habit;  this  super- 
abundance of  people  who  are  capable  of  working  but 
who  are  loafing  in  the  country  and  in  towns  where 
there  are  no  factories,  is  conspicuous  by  comparison 
with  the  town  where  manufacturing  enterprises  have 
been  established.  By  the  same  comparison  the 
dilapidation  of  the  houses  is  conspicuous;  the  poverty 


12G  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

of  the  farmers  in  the  adjacent  country  and  the 
wretched  condition  of  the  roads  are  more  than  con- 
spicuous. 

"Happily  these  old  conditions  are  passing  away. 
In  many  sections  they  have  already  passed  away. 
The  people  of  the  South  are  naturally  enterprising 
and  resourceful.  In  the  early  days  of  the  republic 
the  South  was  the  manufacturing  end  of  the  union. 
The  first  steamship  ever  to  cross  the  ocean  went  out 
of  Savannah.  The  South  Carolina  railway,  when  it 
was  building,  was  the  greatest  engineering  enterprise 
of  the  world.  According  to  the  United  States  census 
of  1810,  the  manufactured  products  of  Virginia,  the 
Carolinas,  and  Georgia,  exceeded  in  value  and  variety 
those  of  the  entire  New  England  States.  This  is 
mentioned  in  no  disparagement  of  New  England  but 
rather  to  show  that  our  forefathers  were  men  of 
enterprise  and  that  they  had  confidence  to  venture 
on  their  own  judgment.  They  never  waited  for 
somebody  to  come  from  somewhere  and  develop 
their  resources  for  them.  If  they  thought  a  cotton 
factory  or  a  railroad  would  be  a  good  thing  they 
built  it.  The  only  mistake  they  made  was  in  think- 
ing that  the  colored  brother  as  a  slave  was  a  good 
thing.  The  growth  of  slavery  dried  up  a  well- 
develoi>ed  manufacturing  tendency  in  the  South. 

"Now  slavery  is  gone,  the  last  vestige  of  that 
anarchy  that  succeeded  the  Civil  War  is  also  now 
gone.  Wherever  the  people  have  recovered  some- 
thing of  the  confidence  of  their  forefathers  in  enter- 
prise they  have  prospered  beyond  their  own  ex- 
pectations or  hopes. 

"The  South  has  put  the  manufacture  of  iron  on  an 
export  basis.  The  cotton  oil  industry  has  been 
developed  on  an  export  basis.     The  South  has  in 


BUILDER  OF  COTTON  MILLS  127 

these  things  set  the  pace  and  made  the  prices  to 
which  the  manufacturers  of  the  North  must  go  and 
come.  If  we  but  utihze  the  resources  we  now  have, 
and  put  to  work  the  idle  labor  now  in  every  un- 
developed section  of  the  South,  we  may  supply 
from  cotton-growing  states  the  cloth  for  the  vast 
markets  in  different  parts  of  the  world  that  are 
now  furnished  from  the  manufactories  of  England 
and  Germany. 

"  In  all  that  we  do  we  want  to  cooperate  with  and 
not  antagonize  our  friends  in  New  England  and 
other  parts  of  the  North.  For  the  sale  of  our  goods 
we  must  rely  much  upon  the  development  of  foreign 
markets.  In  the  future  it  will  not  be  a  domestic 
fight  over  home  products.  The  foreign  markets  we 
must  seek  give  outlet  enough  for  the  products  of  the 
North  and  South  both.  It  is  important  that  the 
people  of  the  whole  nation  shall  work  together  to 
acquire  and  develop  these  markets. 

"Practically  all  native  people  in  the  South  are 
farmers.  The  manufacturing  now  being  done  by 
Southern  people  furnished  evidence  of  the  facility 
with  which  the  Southern  farmer  extends  his  opera- 
tions. Almost  every  Southern  man  who  has  gone 
into  manufacturing  is  still  a  farmer,  and  will  continue 
to  be  so.  The  escape  of  the  cotton  farmer  from 
approaching  poverty  is  not  in  trying  to  curtail 
production  and  increase  the  price,  but  in  devising 
means  to  keep  the  cheap  cotton  at  home,  and  utilizing 
surplus  time  in  turning  it  into  cloth  worth  eighteen 
cents  and  upward  per  pound. 

"  For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  political 
and  social  conditions  in  the  South  have  been  very 
unfavorable  for  the  development  of  material  in- 
terests.    The  generation  that  is  now  passing  away 


128  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

has  withstood  a  test  of  Anglo-Saxon  civilization — 
fighting  against  the  strong  prejudices  of  other 
people  of  their  own  blood  living  at  a  distance,  and 
against  semi-barbaric  influences  at  home  that  were 
supported  and  urged  on  by  those  prejudices.  This 
contest  is  well  nigh  over.  It  is  no  wonder  that  during 
its  progress  so  little  advance  was  made  in  material 
prosperity;  but  it  is  a  wonder  that  the  production  of 
cotton  has  kept  ahead  of  that  of  other  advancing 
cotton-growing  countries.  This  result  alone,  together 
w^ith  the  saving  of  civilization  and  the  preservation 
of  the  social  status  of  the  South,  shows  the  ability  of 
the  people  of  the  South  to  carry  to  the  maximum 
limit  the  white  man's  burden.  In  the  same  time 
Egypt  and  India,  both  under  English  control,  have 
been  pushing  forward  in  the  production  of  cotton, 
becoming  our  serious  competitors. 

"For  the  coming  generation  the  way  to  prosperity 
is  wide  open  and  plain.  The  passing  generation  has 
won  the  fight  against  anarchy  and  left  to  their 
children  a  heritage  more  valuable  than  any  riches. 
It  is  now  simply  a  question  of  redemption  from 
poverty.  To  do  this  we  must  combine  farming  and 
manufacturing.  The  factories  will  require  opera- 
tives, who  in  turn  must  have  foodstuffs,  which  will 
make  a  market  for  the  farmer's  supplies.  Cotton 
can  then  be  made  cheap,  because  diversified  crops, 
which  can  be  sold  for  cash,  will  bring  in  a  supple- 
mental income.  Indeed  the  time  may  come  when 
cotton  will  be  the  surplus  crop  instead  of  being,  as 
now,  the  main  crop. 

"It  is  my  firm  belief  that  in  the  near  future  no 
community  can  afford  to  be  without  its  cotton 
factory,  its  cottonseed  oil  mill,  and  its  fertilizer 
works.     With  these  the  cotton  may  be  tripled  in 


BUILDER  OF  COTTON  MILLS  129 

value,  the  cottonseed  tripled  in  value,  and  the  farm 
tripled  in  value. 

"Now  let  us  formulate  what  the  farmer  ought  to  do 
about  this  matter  of  cotton  manufacture.  Most  of 
them  are  not  in  position  to  build  factories;  yet  the 
subject  rests  almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the 
farmer.  I  formulate  the  required  action  necessary 
by  farmers  as  follows: 

"1. — Create  and  maintain  an  untarnished  credit. 
Keep  all  contracts  inviolate  and  sacred.  The  com- 
mercial strength  of  England  lies  more  than  in  any 
other  one  thing  in  the  perfect  faith  which  England 
and  the  English  people  maintain  with  those  with 
whom  they  deal.  The  true  Englishman  never 
repudiates  an  obligation,  even  though  he  gets  nothing 
in  return  from  what  he  has  contracted  to  pay  for  a 
railroad  that  was  never  built.  I  hold,  however,  that 
if  the  debt  was  honestly  created  and  the  chances 
taken,  it  is  both  good  moral  principle  and  good  in- 
vestment to  fulfil  the  promise. 

"  If  we  would  turn  our  cotton  into  cloth,  we  must, 
of  necessity,  go  into  the  markets  of  the  world,  and  a 
reputation  for  fair  dealing  and  fulfillment  of  all 
contracts  is  the  first  prerequisite  to  an  established 
trade  with  the  miscellaneous  nations  of  the  world. 

"  2. — We  must  develop  and  maintain  our  shipping. 
We  must  have  a  merchant  marine  and  a  navy  to 
protect  it.  We  have  reached  that  point  in  our  indus- 
trial development  when,  if  we  extend  our  manu- 
factures further,  we  must  have  more  markets.  You 
have  built  railroads  by  subsidies.  There  is  hardly  a 
town,  county,  or  state  that  has  not  contributed  in 
bonds  or  in  money  or  in  lands  or  the  use  of  streets  to 
the  construction  of  one  or  more  railroads.  Almost 
every  railroad  in  the  United  States  has  had  more  or 


130  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

less  bounty  money  to  aid  in  its  construction.  Towns 
vie  with  each  other  to-day  in  offering  bounties  to 
obtain  new  lines  of  roads,  and  everybody  feels  that  it 
pays  to  do  so.  Yet  there  is  an  incomprehensible 
prejudice  against  giving  even  a  fair  mail  contract  to  a 
new  line  of  vessels  to  a  foreign  country.  England 
and  Germany  are  willing  enough  to  send  their 
subsidized  ships  here  after  our  five-cent  cotton. 
They  will  never  permit  them  to  come  for  our  fifteen- 
cent  cloth.  These  countries  want  to  hold  the 
manufacture  and  hold  the  trade.  We  must  have  our 
own  ships,  as  we  must  also  have  a  navy  to  protect 
them. 

"3. — WTierever  there  are  markets  for  our  manu- 
factured goods  we  need  American  banking  facilities. 
We  must  have  a  money  upon  which  the  people  of  all 
the  world  can  rely.  The  American  five-dollar  bill 
must,  at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances,  be  as 
good  as  the  English  pound  sterling. 

"The  farmer  by  his  influence  and  vote  can  bring 
about  these  conditions.  In  bringing  them  about  he 
is  multiplying  by  three  the  value  of  his  cotton  and, 
tripling  the  value  of  his  lands.  It  is  in  this  way 
that  the  monopoly  in  the  production  of  cotton  can  be 
held.  It  is  the  way  prosperity  can  be  brought  to  the 
South,  and  maintained  for  all  time. 

"The  Civil  War  made  your  fathers  a  poor  people. 
The  quarter-century  fight  you  have  made  for  civili- 
zation has  made  you  a  sturdy,  self-reliant  people. 
The  prejudices  of  those  of  your  own  blood  throughout 
this  period  of  anarchy  and  disorder  have  made  you  a 
patient  people.  The  year  of  jubilee  is  now  come  and 
the  time  is  ripe  for  the  farmer  to  join  hands  with  the 
manufacturer. 

"Help  to  establish  manufactures  at  home,  and  help 


BUILDER  OF  COTTON  IVIILLS  131 

to  get  foreign  markets  and  ships  and  bring  back  from 
abroad  three  dollars  and  upward  where  we  now 
bring  back  one.  Add  to  the  heritage  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  civilization  which  you  have  saved  for  your 
children  a  combined  system  of  farming  and  manu- 
facturing with  the  necessary  facilities  for  a  world- 
wide commerce,  so  that  they  may  become  rich  and 
prosperous  as  their  grandparents  once  were." 

Tompkins  possessed  in  a  high  degree  talents  for 
thought,  for  speech,  and  for  action.  Had  he  confined 
himself  to  a  single  career,  he  might  have  achieved 
eminence  as  a  public  speaker,  as  a  writer  on  political 
economy,  or  as  an  industrial  builder  and  promoter. 
With  a  calm  philosophy  worthy  of  Lincoln  he  says, 
"The  Civil  War  made  your  fathers  a  poor  people. 
The  quarter-century  fight  you  have  made  for  civiliza- 
tion has  made  you  a  sturdy,  self-reliant  people. 
The  prejudices  of  those  of  your  own  blood  throughout 
this  period  of  anarchy  and  disorder  have  made  you  a 
patient  people."  With  the  joyful  enthusiasm  of  a 
preacher  he  shouts,  "The  year  of  jubilee  has  now 
come  and  the  time  is  ripe  for  the  farmer  to  join  hands 
with  the  manufacturer."  With  the  practical  wisdom 
of  Franklin  he  says,  "Help  to  establish  manufactures 
at  home,  and  help  to  get  foreign  markets  and  ships 
and  bring  back  from  abroad  three  dollars  and  up- 
wards where  we  now  bring  back  one."  He  concludes 
his  great  speech  with  a  tribute  to  Southern  fortitude 
in  defying  the  Reconstruction  policy  of  Northern 
fanatics  and  with  a  patriotic  appeal  to  Anglo-Saxon 
ideals. 


CHAPTER  IX 

BUILDER  OF  MACHINERY  FOR  COTTON  INDUSTRIES 

— THE  D.   A.   TOMPKINS  COMPANY — ^HOW 

TO   BUILD   UP   A   BUSINESS 

THE  building  of  cotton  mills  and  cotton  oil 
mills  was  carried  on  by  Tompkins  during  a 
period  of  twenty  years  and  was  extended 
throughout  the  Soutlil  IT  was  greatly  facilitated  by 
his  work  as  a  builder  and  distributor  of  mill 
machinery  and  mill  supplies.  The  D.  A.  Tompkins 
Company,  of  which  he  was  president  and  general 
manager,  beginning  with  one  man  and  a  small  kit  of 
tools,  developed  into  one  of  the  largest  and  probably 
the  most  unique  of  manufacturing  plants  in  the 
South.  Through  its  own  work  in  Charlotte  and  its 
partnership  with  mills  and  factories  in  New  England 
and  Ohio  the  D.  A.  Tompkins  Company  was  enabled 
to  furnish  on  a  very  large  scale  all  machinery  and 
supplies  essential  to  cotton  mills,  cotton  oil  mills, 
fertilizer  factories,  electric  light  and  power  plants, 
water  works,  and  other  power-producing  or  power- 
economizing  industries.  It  was  the  base  of  supplies 
for  Tompkins'  industrial  operations  throughout  the 
South. 

The  building  up  of  this  company  is  a  monument  to 
his  energy,  skill,  executive  ability,  foresight, 
patriotism,  and  broad  humanitarianism.  He  loved 
to  tell  the  story  of  it;  and  he  told  it  over  and  over 
again,  not  only  in  speeches,  books,  and  newspaper 

132 


BUILDER  OF  MACHINERY  133 

articles  but  even  in  advertisements,  which  were  in- 
tended to  be  lessons  for  the  youth  of  Charlotte  and 
the  South.  The  story  carries  to  young  men  every- 
where the  assurance  that  success  will  always  crown 
merit.  From  hundreds  of  advertisments  in  Southern 
newspapers  the  following  selections  are  but  samples 
of  his  endless  sermons  on  thrift,  industry,  character, 
hopefulness,  intelligence,  self-reliance,  and  efficiency: 

STARTING   IN    BUSINESS 

"It  is  now  something  like  fourteen  years  since 
there  came  to  Charlotte  a  mechanic  who  was  looking 
for  a  place  to  go  into  business  for  himself.  He  had 
been  considered  where  he  came  from  as  a  good 
machinist,  and  had  also  had  a  good  training  as  a 
draftsman  and  designer  of  machinery.  He  had  the 
promise  of  an  agency  for  an  engine. 

"Working  as  a  machinist  or  draftsman  in  a  large 
iron  works  he  had  been  well  at  home,  but  in  the 
business  world,  on  ever  so  small  a  scale,  he  was 
tolerably  awkward.  There  wasn't  very  much 
mechanical  employment  around  here  in  those  days, 
nevertheless  this  machinist  and  draftsman  hired  a 
room,  got  an  engine  sent  on— just  one  engine  for 
stock,  and  struck  out  for  business.  Things  looked 
squally  for  quite  awhile  afterward.  The  new  busi- 
ness man  was  ready  for  anything  that  would  bring 
enough  pay  for  wages  and  store  rent.  He  did  some 
surveying  on  the  streets  and  laid  out  the  grades  of 
most  of  the  pavements  in  the  central  part  of  the  city, 
commencing  at  the  public  square.  The  pay  for  this 
work  was  not  very  much,  but  it  went  a  long  way 
toward  keeping  the  pot  boiling.  After  awhile  an 
engine  or  two  was  sold,  and  the  scant  profit  with  all 


1S4  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

the  wages  for  setting  up  and  starting  up  the  engines 
helped  along  very  considerably.  The  man  was  sales- 
man and  machinist,  both,  for  all  that  he  did.  He  had 
very  few  tools,  and  most  of  the  piping  about  an 
ordinary  engine  was  put  together  with  a  trace  chain 
and  a  stick  for  pipe  tongs.  The  smaller  pipe  was  cut 
by  hand  and  put  together  with  a  Stillson  wrench.  A 
small  set  of  pipe  taps,  with  one  stock,  a  hammer,  and 
chisel  or  two,  a  trace  chain  and  a  stout  stick  were 
about  all  the  tools  available  for  putting  up  an  or- 
dinary ginning  engine  and  its  outfit. 

*'Once  in  a  while  he  would  do  some  surveying  for 
private  parties,  locating  a  lot;  and  would  earn  wages 
for  a  day  or  two.  The  business  wasn't  very  promis- 
ing, and  it  often  looked  as  if  the  next  month  or  two 
might  wind  it  up.  But  each  new  month  brought 
enough  new  work  of  one  kind  and  another  to  keep 
things  going.  After  a  considerable  time  and  by 
inappreciable  degrees  things  got  better.  The  jobs 
came  easier  and  the  pay  improved.  Customers 
generally  liked  the  results  they  got,  and  some  of  the 
first  ones  began  to  come  again.  It  gradually  came  so 
that  there  was  less  work  hunting  for  work,  and  it 
required  more  hustle  to  keep  up  with  the  work  that 
came. 

"After  a  year  or  more  a  good  business  man  ob- 
served that  there  was  more  work  and  opportunity 
than  there  was  capital  to  handle  it.  He  offered  to 
take  an  interest  in  a  quiet  way  and  furnish  some 
capital  to  handle  the  business.  A  trade  was  made 
and  then  it  was  a  partnership  for  a  considerable 
period. 

"Later  still  a  corporation  was  formed  and  that's 
how  the  business  of  the  Tompkins  Company  was 
founded  and  built  up. 


BUILDER  OF  MACHINERY  135 

"In  those  early  days,  if  we  had  ever  let  up,  the 
business  would  have  ended.  As  good  luck  would 
have  it,  the  mechanic  kept  in  good  health.  It  looks 
now,  and  it  looked  then,  too,  as  if  at  any  time  in  the 
first  two  or  three  years  a  spell  of  sickness  would  have 
ended  the  venture.  It  was  good  luck,  too,  that  this 
proved  to  be  a  country  of  valuable  undeveloped 
resources;  and  the  gradual  development  of  those 
helped  us.  Perhaps  we  were  of  some  value  in  helping 
to  push  on  this  development.  Anyway,  we  are  still 
here,  and  are  still  having  some  hand  in  this  develop- 
ment, which  is  still  going  forward." 

WHERE   OUR    SHOPS   ARE   LOCATED 

"The  growth  of  the  United  States  and  the  develop- 
ment of  her  resources  is  the  wonder  of  the  twentieth 
century.  This  growth  and  development  began  with 
the  coming  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  to  the  New  World. 
The  first  establishment  in  America  of  an  Anglo- 
Saxon  colony  was  at  Roanoke  Island  on  the  coast  of 
North  Carolina.  This  was  in  1585  and  the  move- 
ment was  under  the  direction  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh. 

"Before  the  ships  which  brought  this  party  over 
returned  to  England  there  was  born  a  baby  who  was 
named  Virginia  Dare.  This  girl  was  the  first  native 
American  of  Anglo-Saxon  parentage. 

"Years  afterward  a  colony  was  established  at 
Jamestown  in  Virginia,  in  which  there  was  John  Smith 
of  Pocahontas  fame. 

"Years  afterward  the  Puritans  landed  at  Ply- 
mouth, in  Massachusetts. 

"When  the  ships  that  brought  over  the  Roanoke 
party  went  back  to  England  they  were  detained  and 
it  was  two  years  before  they  returned  to  America. 


1S6  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

When  the  ships  did  return,  the  colony  was  gone — no- 
body knew  where. 

"  There  is  now  an  area  in  North  Carohna  of  about 
ten  miles  square  inhabited  by  a  race  of  people  known 
as  the  Croatan  Indians.  They  are  not  like  other 
Indians.  They  resent  fiercely  any  attempt  to  class 
them  as  negroes.  They  have  many  of  the  qualities  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon.  Living  within  two  or  three  days' 
march  of  where  the  first  colony  of  Anglo-Saxons  ever 
settled,  the  civilization  of  the  white  man  has  de- 
stroyed or  driven  out  all  other  Indians.  This  Croatan 
tribe  has  not  only  been  skipped  in  the  progress  of 
civilization,  but  there  seems  to  be  as  many  of  them 
to-day  as  there  were  a  hundred  years  ago. 

"There  is  a  legend  that  the  Croatans  took  the  part 
of  the  white  people  when  they  were  attacked  by 
unfriendly  Indians.  Being  driven  away  from  the 
first  settlement,  the  whites  and  the  friendly  Croatans 
retreated  together  to  where  the  Croatans  now  live. 

"In  any  event,  the  first  settlement  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  on  American  soil  was  on  the  coast  of  North 
Carolina.  The  State  has  seen  many  changes  since. 
These  changing  events  have  been  somewhat  as  fol- 
lows: (1)  Conquest  of  the  country  and  its  settle- 
ment. (2)  Development  of  agriculture  and  fair 
commerce  and  manufactures.  (3)  Development  of 
slavery  and  cotton  production  and  neglect  of  manu- 
factures. (4)  Civil  War  and  abolition  of  slavery. 
(5)  Revival  of  manufactures  and  commerce  and 
improvement  of  farming  methods. 

"  It  was  here  in  the  Old  North  State  that  the  first 
settlement  was  made  looking  to  the  dev^elopment  of 
an  English-speaking  nation.  The  State  has  had  her 
ups  and  downs  in  fortune,  but  it  looks  now  as  though 
her  misfortunes  might  be  in  the  past.     She  is  making 


BUILDER  OF  MACHINERY  1S7 

good  headway,  and  our  machine  shops  and  the 
business  we  are  doing  is  one  of  the  small  factors  in 
the  State's  progress." 

WE   AND   OUR   GREAT-GRANDSIRES 

"Investigation  has  shown  that  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  eighteenth  and  in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth 
centuries  Carolinians  had  about  as  much,  or  perhpas 
more,  mechanical  resource  and  manufacturing  ability 
than  the  people  of  any  other  part  of  the  United 
States.  In  the  Piedmont  region  there  were  numerous 
blast  furnaces,  rolling  mills,  foundries,  hollow-ware 
works  (pots,  ovens,  skillets,  etc.);  nail  works,  rifle 
factories,  woollen  mills,  and  other  industrial  enter- 
prises. 

"Just  before,  during,  and  after  the  Revolutionary, 
War,  the  wrought  bar  iron  from  Piedmont  forges 
found  a  market  in  Boston.  The  rifles  made  in  the 
home  factories  were  an  important  factor  in  deter- 
mining the  outcome  of  the  American  Revolution. 
These  same  rifles  were  also  important  factors  in 
dealing  with  the  Indian  and  the  bear  both  at  home 
and  on  the  frontier  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee, 
where  many  Carolinians  of  daring  spirit  went  to  seek 
adventure,  and  to  stand  a  bulwark  for  the  protection 
of  advancing  civilization. 

"Whether  it  was  a  bear  on  the  Piedmont  slopes,  an 
Indian  in  Kentucky,  or  an  invading  British  foe,  it  was 
of  life-and-death  importance  for  the  American  to  have 
a  rifle  that  would  shoot  without  fail,  and  shoot 
straight.  Those  made  by  the  mechanics  of  the 
Piedmont  region  could  be  relied  on,  and  they  stood  in 
high  favor.  Other  manufactured  products  made 
by  the  mechanics  of  the  Carolinas  of  the  eighteenth 


138  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

century — this  most  ancient  and  honorable  order 
of  American  mechanics — were  also  first  class  and 
stood  in  high  favor  with  consumers  or  users.  In 
time  came  slavery  and  the  downfall  of  the  mechanic 
in  the  Piedmont  region. 

"Then  came  the  Civil  War  and  the  downfall  of 
slavery. 

"Then  came  the  so-called  Reconstruction  period 
with  twenty-five  years  of  anarchy  and  almost  hope- 
less endeavor  to  save  civilization  in  the  Carolinas. 

"Then  came  the  restoration  of  stable  and  honest 
government. 

"This  being  attained,  people  began  to  look  about 
for  profitable  employment.  The  occupation  of  the 
fathers — agriculture  with  slave  labor — being  gone, 
they  fell,  more  or  less  naturally,  as  a  sort  of  heritage, 
into  the  occupations  of  their  grandfathers  and  great- 
grandfathers. One  tried  cotton  manufacture,  another 
the  machine  business,  another  undertook  to  make 
wagons,  another  carriages  and  buggies,  another 
furniture,  etc.,  etc. 

"The  great-grandson  found  that  though  these 
abilities  were  dormant  in  his  family  through  the 
period  of  slavery,  he  could  develop,  with  very  little 
practice,  the  same  old  twist  of  the  wrist  which  the 
great-grandfather  had. 

"The  descendant  of  the  old  rifle-maker  is  just  as 
good  a  mechanic  as  the  old  rifle-maker  himself  was. 
The  great-grandson  of  the  wagon -maker  of  1790  is 
making  just  as  good  wagons  in  1902  as  the  old  man 
made  in  the  second  century  before. 

"More  than  fifty  of  these  descendants  make  up  the 
bulk  of  the  organization  in  our  new  shops  and  keep 
its  wheels  turning.  There  is  a  moderate  proportion 
of  good  men  from  other  parts  of  the  United  States 


BUILDER  OF  MACHINERY  139 

also  incorporated  in  the  organization.  It  makes  a 
strong  combination.  The  Piedmont  mechanic  of 
the  eighteenth  century  did  superb  work.  Our  or- 
ganization does  just  as  good  work.  We  study 
modern  requirements  and  keep  up  with  the  twentieth 
century  times. 

"The  cotton  yarn  reels,  which  we  make  to-day  in 
our  ship,  are  just  as  much  of  a  success  as  Daniel 
Boone's  rifle  was.  Our  cottonseed  huller  is  made 
for  a  purpose  that  those  old  fellows  of  the  eighteenth 
century  never  conceived  of;  but  it  is  of  just  as  high- 
class  design  and  workmanship  for  the  requirements  of 
these  modern  times  as  the  mountain  and  frontier 
wagons  were  for  the  day  and  generation  in  which  they 
were  built  and  used.  In  those  old  days,  they  used 
to  mix  sizing  in  a  bucket  and  put  it  on  the  warp  with 
a  brush.  In  our  shop  we  build  a  size  kettle  in  which 
sizing  is  so  well  mixed  that  it  is  like  an  emulsion — 
saturates  the  yarn  and  never  falls  off. 

"They  had  no  steam  engines  in  those  old  days. 
That's  the  reason  the  rolling  mills  were  all  on  water- 
powers,  as  at  Clifton,  Henrietta,  High  Shoals, 
Cherokee,  and  other  places. 

"We  wish  one  of  the  mechanics  of  1775  could  see 
one  of  the  modern  Corliss  engines  operate  after  we 
have  overhauled  it  and  put  it  in  good  order.  Or  look 
through  our  shop  and  see  the  electric  drive  and  the 
beating  by  exhaust  steam.  Or  see  our  new  foundry, 
and  compare  the  way  we  make  castings  with  the  way 
they  used  to  make  them." 

INDUSTRIAL   PROGRESS 

"When  the  founders  of  the  Tompkins  Company 
business  first  landed  in  Charlotte  there  was  mighty 


140  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

little  doing.  The  principal  merchants  occupied  much 
of  their  time  sitting  in  chairs  in  front  of  their  stores, 
sometimes  whittling,  sometimes  playing  checkers  or 
backgammon,  and  sometimes  gossiping.  These  mer- 
chants came  to  their  stores  early  and  went  away  late. 
Long  hours  and  little  work  was  the  rule.  The  little 
work  was  because  there  wasn't  much  to  do. 

*'How  things  have  changed  since  then,  not  only  in 
Charlotte,  but  in  the  whole  South.  In  those  old 
languid  days  the  dogs  didn't  get  up  to  bark.  If  they 
saw  or  heard  anything  that  they  thought  ought  to  be 
barked  at  they  lay  still,  and  barked  lying  down.  It 
was  probably  the  same  m  Greenville. 

"Then  there  were  two  machine  shops  in  Charlotte, 
one  doing  no  miscellaneous  work  but  making 
machines. 

"Then  there  was  one  cotton  mill  in  Charlotte; 
now  there  are  twenty.  Then  the  colored  people 
monopolized  the  business  of  barbering;  now  it  is  well 
nigh  monopolized  by  white  barbers.  Then  the  busi- 
ness man  took  his  hat  off  to  the  banker;  now  the 
banker  doffs  to  the  business  man  and  finds  that  he 
likes  it;  the  business  man  appreciates  the  courtesy 
more  than  the  old-fashioned  banker  did. 

"In  those  days  the  Tompkins  Company's  assets 
was  a  kit  of  machinists'  tools  and  the  whole  organiza- 
tion was  a  founder  and  a  cheap  helper.  There  were 
no  debts  because  the  banker  couldn't  see  any  basis  of 
credit  in  the  kit  of  tools — there  was  value  all  the 
same,  but  it  wasn't  in  tangible  shape  for  a  banker  to 
realize  on. 

"Gradually  we  built  up  a  business  and  then 
facilities  to  do  the  business.  We  could  get  a  little 
more  business  and  then  a  new  tool,  more  business,  an- 
other new  tool,  and  so  the  building  has  been  going  on 


BUILDER  OF  MACHINERY  141 

until  we  now  have  a  large  foundry  and  two  large 
machine  shops — all  out  of  that  original  kit  of  ma- 
chinists' tools. 

OPPORTUNITY  WITHOUT  CAPITAL 

"Our  business  has  been  built  up  by  work  and  not 
by  money.     There  wasn't  any  money  to  start  with. 

"The  reason  is  that  the  fellow  who  can  do  things 
is  the  master  and  not  the  servant  of  capital.  Capital 
seeks  the  man  w  ho  can  do  things  a  heap  more  than  he 
ever  has  to  seek  capital. 

"We  are  not  only  getting  a  good  home  trade  and  a 
growing  one,  but  our  territory  is  extending  nicely 
above  the  Potomac. 

"Something  like  100  years  ago  North  Carolina 
made  wrought  iron,  much  of  which  found  a  market 
in  New  England. 

"We  are  helping  to  bring  about  the  old  condition. 
We  have  had  several  orders  from  New  England  for 
the  products  of  our  shops  and  we  have  a  good  trade  in 
the  Middle  States." 

WAGES   vs.    SALARIES 

"The  cry  of  the  industrial  world  is  for  men  who  can 
actually  do  something.  We  have  applicants  every  day 
by  young  men  and  old  men  who  want  'positions.' 

"'What  can  you  do.'^'  is  the  first  question  we  ask, 
because  we  really  need  men.  We  need  right  now 
four  good  machinists  and  two  molders.  These 
don't  come  along.  If  most  of  those  who  do  come 
would  answer  our  question  in  full  frankness  they 
would  say,  'I  can't  do  anything  in  particular  with 
any  degree  of  efficiency,  except  draw  my  "salary"  and 
quit  promptly  when  the  whistle  blows.' 


142  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

"It  seems  a  pity  we  haven't  a  better  system  of 
training  the  boys  and  young  men  in  a  way  to  make 
them  capable  of  actually  doing  something.  A 
machinist  apprenticeship  can't  hurt  any  boy,  even 
though  he  expects  to  be  a  lawyer  or  a  doctor. 

"There's  plenty  of  time  between  school  and 
college  terms  to  give  a  boy  or  young  man  a  practical 
apprenticeship.  This  time  is  usually  worse  than 
wasted.  The  boy  not  only  fails  to  learn  to  do  some 
useful  thing,  but  does  acquire  idle  habits,  sometimes 
vicious  habits. 

"Our  view  of  the  matter  is  that  none  of  the  school- 
ing would  be  omitted,  but  that  a  reasonable  portion 
of  the  intervening  time  should  be  applied  to  learning 
some  trade.  It's  as  easy  to  teach  a  boy  to  love  work 
with  the  result  of  capability  as  it  is  to  let  him  drift 
into  habits  of  idleness  with  the  result  of  incapability." 

EARLY   TRAINING 

"The  surest  way  to  get  a  high  position  is  to  fill  a 
modest  one  well.  The  restless  and  impatient  man 
who  neglects  his  work  in  quest  of  advancement 
is  never  advanced.  The  languid  fellow  whose  mind 
wanders  from  his  work  to  reveries  of  wealth  and  fame, 
he's  no  good.  Yet  speak  of  a  good  position  at  good 
pay,  and  there  are  at  once  applications  from  these 
restless,  impatient,  and  languid  fellows,  while  the 
sterling  worker  works  on,  and  must  be  sought  out 
and  approached. 

"Training  in  early  youth  has  a  lot  to  do  with  it. 
A  realization  that  all  things  come  to  him  who  works 
and  waits  has  a  lot  more  to  do  with  it. 

"If  the  deficiencies  were  due  to  inherent  fault  in 
our  people,  there  would  be  no  use  to  speculate  upon 


BUILDER  OF  MACHINERY  143 

betterment.  But  there  is  no  inherent  fault.  The 
youth  should  be  trained  and  made  to  learn  to  work, 
developing  at  the  same  time  skill  and  physical 
strength,  and  the  young  man  should  be  taught  that 
education  entitles  a  man  to  nothing  if  he  fails  to 
accomplish  something. 

"There  are  few  people  who  may  not  be  successful 
if  in  youth  they  have  the  right  training  and  in  young 
manhood  they  leam  to  have  a  wholesome  reliance  in 
patient  and  honest  work." 

THE   VALUE   OF   A   TRADE 

"The  financier  values  a  property  according  to  the 
income  it  will  bring  in  and  the  probability  of  this 
income  being  permanent. 

"On  a  basis  of  6  per  cent.,  a  property  that  would 
bring  in  $75  a  month  would  be  worth  $15,000. 

"There  are  many  mechanics  making  $75  a  month. 
Many  make  more.  Some  good  machinists  make  $4  a 
day  easily  and  regularly  and  not  a  few  make  $5.  A 
locomotive  engineer  can  make  $125  to  $175  a  month. 

"These  are  wages  of  journeymen  workmen  and  not 
bosses  or  superintendents.  The  figures  represent  the 
value  of  a  trade.  Capitalize  these  incomes  on  a 
basis  of  6  per  cent.,  and  we  find  the  value  of  skill  in 
good  workmen  to  be  about  as  follows: 

Bricklayer,  at  $2  per  day       ....     $10,000.00 

Carpenter,  at  $2.25  per  day  .      . 

Holder,  at  $2.50  per  day        .      . 

Pattern  makers,  at  $2.75  per  day 

Machinist,  at  $3  per  day        .      . 

Machinist,  at  $4  per  day 

Machinist,  at  $5  per  day 

Locomotive  engineers  at  $6  per  day 


11,250.00 
12,000.00 
13,750.00 
15,000.00 
20,000.00 
25,000.00 
30,000,00 


144  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

"These  figures  represent  nice  sums  of  money.  As 
long  as  the  mechanic  Hves  and  enjoys  health  these 
little  fortunes  are  more  secure  than  if  they  were  in 
cash  and  invested  in  property. 

"This  capitalized  value  of  a  trade  cannot  be  risked 
in  a  cotton  speculation.  Nothing  but  sickness  or 
death  depreciates  these  values. 

"If  a  man  has  the  faculty  of  governing  or  directing 
men,  he  is  far  more  apt  to  get  the  opportunity  to 
exercise  this  faculty  and  get  pay  for  it,  if  he  knows  a 
trade  well,  than  if  he  does  not.  In  selecting  a 
superintendent  for  a  cottonseed  oil  mill,  the  man 
who  is  a  good  mechanic  is  always  selected  by  pref- 
erence, if  other  things  are  approximately  equal. 

"In  civil  life  the  mechanic  is  as  independent  as 
the  soldier  in  military  life.  The  five-dollar-a-day 
mechanic  is  just  as  securely  fixed  for  life,  as  to  a 
living,  as  the  one-hundred-and-twenty-five-dollar-a- 
month  captain  in  the  army.  The  captain  may 
become  a  general.  The  machinist  may  remain 
machinist  all  his  life,  yet  he  may  become  proprietor 
of  a  factory.  The  special  training  stands  not  in  the 
way  of  success,  but  promotes  it." 

OUR   APPRENTICES 

"We  make  apprenticeship  contracts,  the  D.  A. 
Tompkins  Co.  being  first  party  and  the  boy  and  his 
parents  being  second  party.  The  apprenticeship 
term  is  three  years,  the  first  six  months  is  a  trial 
period  for  both  parties  to  the  contract.  We  pay  60 
cents  a  day  the  first  year,  75  cents  the  second  year, 
and  $1  the  third  and  last  year. 

"We  don't  require  these  young  gentlemen  to  put 
in  three  years'  continuous  work.     We  rather  prefer 


BUILDER  OF  MACHINERY  145 

that  they  should  not  do  so.  We  always  give  them 
leave  of  absence  to  attend  school.  After  school  term 
they  come  back  and  start  where  they  left  off.  This 
makes  us  always  crowded  with  boys  in  the  summer. 
At  present  we  are  overrun  because  all  the  schools  are 
out  and  all  the  apprentices  want  to  work  on  their 
apprenticeship  time  at  once. 

"We  don't  let  the  boys  off  for  anything  but  a 
short  vacation  and  for  school.  The  system  seems  to 
be  working  well  and  those  who  have  gone  through 
this  apprenticeship,  and  at  the  same  time  kept  their 
education  going,  have  come  out  in  the  end  first-class 
journeymen  w^orkmen  and  decently  educated  young 
gentlemen  who  can  do  things. 

"The  trades  in  our  shops  are:  (1)  Machinists. 
(2)  Pattern  Makers.  (3)  Molders.  (4)  Drafts- 
men.    (5)  Electric  Wiremen,  and  (6)  Roll  Coverers. 

"The  combination  of  practical  training  and  teach- 
ing makes  the  best  man.  It  makes  a  man  who  knows 
how  things  ought  to  be  done  and  who  can  do  them." 

When  working  in  the  Bethlehem  Iron  Works 
Tompkins  had  written  in  his  diary,  "Someday  I  shall 
have  a  machine  shop  of  my  own,  even  if  I  make  a 
start  as  a  blacksmith  at  a  country  cross  roads."  His 
resolution  was  accomplished.  D.  A.  Tompkins, 
engineer  and  machinist,  has  become  the  D.  A. 
Tompkins  Company,  with  large,  well-equipped 
machine  shops  and  foundry,  builders  and  distributors 
of  machinery  for  cotton  industries,  consulting 
and  contracting  engineers  for  the  designing,  con- 
structing, and  equipping  of  cotton  mills,  cottonseed 
oil  mills,  fertilizer  factories,  and  other  industrial 
plants. 

The  building  up  of  the  D.  A.  Tompkins  Company 
was  in  a  measure  the  building  up  of  cotton  mills  and 


146  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

cotton    oil    mills    throughout    the    South.     But    its 
greatest  value  to  the  South  was  its  demonstration: 

1.  That  the  South  had  native  talent  equal  to  its 
task  of  industrial  development. 

2.  That  this  talent  could  easily  be  trained  and 
utilized. 

3.  That  capital  was  available  from  abroad  and 
easily  multiplied  at  home. 

4.  That  a  capable  lad  can  begin  at  the  bottom  of 
the  industrial  ladder  and  climb  to  the  top. 


CHAPTER  X 

A   PLAN  TO  RAISE  CAPITAL  FOR  MANUFACTURING 
COOPERATIVE   MILL   BUILDING 

A  FTER  much  experience  in  constructing  and 
ZJm  operating  cotton  mills  and  cotton  oil  mills 
X  A.  Tompkins  came  to  the  belief  that  the  mill 
business  furnished  an  opportunity  for  cooperative 
investment  by  small  communities  or  by  men  of 
small  means  in  large  communities.  On  reaching 
this  conclusion  he  was  not  slow  in  putting  it  to  the 
test.  With  characteristic  energy  he  entered  upon  a 
campaign  for  cooperative  mill  building,  flooding 
the  press  with  literature,  filling  the  mails  with 
circulars,  and  canvassing  personally  wherever  op- 
portunity presented.  Facts  and  arguments  for 
cooperative  mill  building  were  spread  broadcast 
throughout  the  South.  He  made  stirring  appeals  to 
local  pride  and  local  interest,  showing  the  disad- 
vantages to  a  community  of  relying  upon  foreign 
capital  in  mill  building  and  submitting  to  foreign 
control  in  mill  management.  He  showed  how  any 
community  by  a  little  thrift,  energy,  and  cooperation 
could  build  a  cotton  mill. 

"In  most  places,"  said  he,  "where  a  new  mill  is 
proposed,  an  idea  is  prevalent  that  if  half  the  money 
is  raised  at  home,  then  somebody  from  somewhere 
will  furnish  the  other  half. 

"Several  years  ago  the  builders  of  cotton  mill 
machinery  took  stock  in  new  mills  as  part  payment 

147 


148  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

for  the  machinery.  This  brought  on  numerous 
complications  and  trouble;  and  the  practice  has  now 
been  entirely  abandoned. 

"  Commission  houses  in  the  North  who  sell  cotton 
mill  products  have  often  taken  stock  in  new  Southern 
mills.  They  do  this  of  course  mostly  for  the  sake  of 
controlling  the  sale  of  the  mill's  products.  For 
while  Southern  mill  stocks  are  always  splendid  prop- 
erty, there  must  always  be  some  extra  inducement 
for  capital  to  seek  investment  in  distant  localities. 
A  mill  having  a  large  part  of  its  stock  owned  in  this 
way  is  restricted  in  the  sale  of  its  products  to  one 
special  market,  which  market  might  at  some  time  not 
be  the  best  for  that  particular  kind  of  product. 

"All  foreign  capital  is  attracted  to  new  enter- 
prises at  a  distance  by  some  distinct  motive,  and  is 
governed  by  well-defined  laws.  Large  amounts  of 
Northern  money  have  been  invested  in  Southern 
cotton  mills,  but  they  have  been  influenced  by  the 
motive  above  mentioned,  or  have  been  invested  in 
stocks  of  mills  already  successful,  or  with  men  well 
known  as  successful  manufacturers.  The  distant 
capitalist  is  attracted  by  success  already  accom- 
plished, and  is  not  disposed  to  risk  money  to  prove 
whether  a  new  locality  and  a  new  people  are  both 
adapted  to  make  a  success  of  cotton  manufacture. 
Success  in  a  new  mill  or  town,  once  established,  often 
brings  foreign  capital  without  the  asking. 

"The  home  capitalist  is  influenced  largely  by  the 
same  motive  as  the  foreigner.  He  prefers  for  some- 
one else  to  make  the  experiment  in  manufacturing; 
if  it  is  a  failure,  then  he  has  escaped;  if  it  is  a  success, 
then  he  can  go  in  and  buy  the  stock  or  start  a  new 
similar  enterprise. 

"The  average  Southern  town  underestimates  its 


CAPITAL  FOR  MANUFACTURmG  149 

ability  to  raise  capital  to  build  a  cotton  factory. 
Cotton  mill  property,  like  all  other  property,  is 
cumulative.  No  town  could  raise  the  money  at  once 
to  pay  for  all  the  property  in  it." 

After  building  several  cooperative  mills  Tompkins 
drew  up  and  published  in  pamphlet  form  his  plan  to 
raise  capital.  The  pamphlet  was  extensively  cir- 
culated throughout  the  South,  was  very  generally 
copied  in  the  newspapers,  and  published  in  various 
journals.  It  covers  the  ground  of  cooperative  cotton 
mills,  and  is  easily  adaptable  to  any  kind  of  co- 
operative industrial  enterprise. 

PREFACE   TO   PLAN 

"While  working  as  a  machinist,  and  in  other 
capacities  for  the  Bethlehem  Iron  Works,  Bethlehem, 
Pa.,  I  always  carried  some  stock  in  one  or  more  of  the 
local  Building  and  Loan  Associations  at  Bethlehem. 

"Toward  the  latter  part  of  my  service  with  that 
company  I  devised  plans  for  the  organization  of  a 
Savings  Fund  and  Building  Association.  The  plan  was 
that  nine  of  my  fellow  workmen  with  myself  should 
form  an  association  for  saving  something  out  of  our 
salaries  and  wages  each  month,  and,  putting  these 
savings  together,  should  use  the  fund — not  to  loan,  but 
to  build  houses  for  rent  and  for  holding  as  investment. 

"At  $20.00  per  month  each  the  ten  of  us  would  pay 
into  the  Association  $200  per  month.  With  this  we 
could  soon  have  built  a  house,  and  then  with  the  con- 
tinued payments  and  the  rent  from  the  first  house  we 
could  soon  have  built  another,  and  so  on.  We  thought 
of  continuing  this  process  and  also  the  use  of  rents  for 
building  for  a  period  of  ten  years.  Then  we  proposed 
to  stop  payments  and  use  rents  for  dividends. 


loO  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

"Two  of  my  fellow  workmen  and  I  purchased 
something  like  thirty  lots,  having  in  view  turning 
them  over  to  this  Association. 

*' Just  before  the  time  for  organization  of  this  little 
Savings  Fund  and  Investment  Association  I  moved 
away  from  Bethlehem  and  the  plans  were  never 
executed.  The  thirty  lots  are  yet  undeveloped  in 
Bethlehem,  and  are  still  the  property  of  the  two  of 
us  who  survive  and  the  estate  of  our  third  partner 
who  has  passed  away. 

"After  going  into  business  in  Charlotte,  N.  C,  on 
my  own  account,  I  worked  out  a  modification  of  the 
same  plan  for  raising  capital  to  build  manufacturing 
plants,  and  published  it  in  the  Manufacturers^ 
Record  of  Baltimore  and  other  periodicals. 

"This  plan  of  raising  or  accumulating  capital  has 
been  utilized  for  building  15  or  20  cotton  mills  in  the 
South,  principally  in  the  Carolinas. 

"This  pamphlet  gives  a  synopsis  of  the  general 
plan,  as  applied  to  building  cotton  mills.  The  illus- 
trations exhibit  some  of  the  mills  which  have  been 
built  by  the  use  of  the  plan. 

PLAN    TO    RAISE    CAPITAL    FOR    MANUFACTURING 

"There  are  in  successful  operation  in  the  southeast 
a  number  of  cotton  factories  built  by  money  raised 
on  the  installment  plan  as  the  payments  are  made  in 
a  building  and  loan  association.  The  writer  had 
observed  that  in  many  towns  there  was  a  strong 
desire  amongst  the  people  to  build  and  operate  a 
cotton  factory,  but  conceived  it  impossible  to  raise 
the  capital  at  home  because,  as  a  rule,  few  people  in 
towns  or  small  cities  have  much  unemployed  capital. 
It  was  further  observed  that  in  almost  if  not  quite 


CAPITAL  FOR  MANUFACTURING  151 

every  one  of  these  instances  one  or  more  building  and 
loan  associations  were  in  operation  with  accumulated 
cash  in  excess  of  what  was  considered  impossible  to 
raise  for  the  construction  of  a  cotton  factory.  The 
conclusion  was  therefore  reached  that  if  a  plan  could  be 
formulated  by  which  a  company  could  be  organized 
whose  capital  stock  was  made  payable  in  the  shape  of 
regular  weekly  or  monthly  saving,  then  any  ordinary 
community  could  raise  the  money  to  build  a  factory. 

"Following  out  this  line  of  thought  it  was  found 
that  with  shares  of  one  hundred  dollars  par  value 
they  could  be  paid  in  full  as  follows: 

(1)  At  the  rate  of  one  dollar  per  week  per  share  the 
par  value  would  be  reached  in  a  little  less  than  two 
years.  (2)  At  the  rate  of  fifty  cents  per  week  the 
time  would  be  a  little  less  than  four  years.  (3)  At 
the  rate  of  twenty -five  cents  per  week  the  time  would 
be  a  little  less  than  eight  years.  All  of  these  plans  of 
payments  have  been  tried  at  Charlotte,  N.  C,  and 
in  every  case  the  result  has  been  successful. 

"The  plan  (2)  of  fifty  cents  per  week  per  share,  it 
seems,  is  the  most  popular  and  the  most  suitable  for  all 
ordinary  cases  and  places.  At  this  rate  the  following 
would  be  the  regular  payments  for  about  four  years : 

On  1  share  ($100),  50  cents  per  week  or  about 
$2.00  per  month. 

On  5  shares  ($500),  $2.50  per  week  or  about 
$10.00  per  month. 

On  10  shares  ($1,000),  $5.00  per  week  or  about 
$20.00  per  month. 

On  25  shares  ($2,500),  $12.50  per  week  or  about 
$50.00  per  month. 

On  50  shares  ($5,000),  $25.00  per  week  or  about 
^100.00  per  month. 


152  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

"In  organizing  a  company  each  subscriber  for 
stock  makes  the  payments  as  above  indicated  either 
by  the  week  or  month. 

"On  the  basis  of  subscriptions  aggregating  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  there  would  be  paid  the 
company  each  year  about  twenty-five  thousand  dol- 
lars. With  this  amount  of  money  the  buildings 
could  be  constructed  and  paid  for  in  the  first  year. 
Within  the  second  year  one  third  the  machiner}^ 
could  be  purchased  and  put  in  operation.  In  three 
years  from  the  time  of  organization  it  would  be 
usually  possible  to  have  the  entire  plant  in  operation 
with  some  debt,  which  could  be  paid  off  as  the  in- 
stallments were  paid  in  the  last  year. 

"A  capital  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  will 
build  a  mill  of  about  five  thousand  spindles  and  two 
hundred  looms  which  w^ould  furnish  work  for  about 
one  hundred  hands.  These  estimates  are  only  given 
for  the  purpose  of  conveying  the  most  general  idea. 
There  are  infinite  conditions  that  might  vary  any 
one  of  the  items  given,  and  therefore  in  each  special 
case  the  general  result  might  be  different  according 
to  the  cost  of  materia  s  and  the  kind  of  product 
desired  to  be  made. 

"The  illustrations  and  general  data  are  taken  from 
mills  that  have  been  built  on  the  plan  herein  dis- 
cussed. 

"It  goes  without  saying  that  the  quickest  time  in 
which  the  capital  can  be  accumulated  is  the  best.  If 
subscriptions  can  be  procured  on  a  basis  of  two  dollars 
a  week  per  share,  thus  making  the  capital  payable  in 
about  one  year,  this  would  be  the  next  best  thing  to 
having  the  money  subscribed  subject  to  call  as  it 
might  be  needed.  Next  to  the  rate  of  two  dollars  per 
week  then  one  dollar  per  week  would  be  desirable. 


CAPITAL  FOR  MANUFACTURING  153 

Then  follows  fifty  cents  a  week  and  twen^.y-five  cents 
per  week. 

*'The  last-named  rate,  while  it  has  been  proven 
practicable  in  the  case  of  a  few  mills,  is  undesirable, 
if  the  subscriptions  can  possibly  be  got  to  fifty  cents 
per  week  or  more. 

**The  plan  of  fifty  cents  per  week  has  been  the 
most  popular  one,  and  it  has  in  all  cases  worked  well, 
the  result  having  been  dividend-paying  manufactur- 
ing plants. 

"The  completion  of  a  mill  may  always  be  hastened 
beyond  what  could  be  done  with  ordinary  income  by 
borrowing  money  to  complete  the  mill  at  once  and 
then  paying  this  money  back  as  it  is  paid  into  the 
treasury  in  installments  by  the  stockholders.  Where- 
ever  this  has  been  done  the  mill  company  has  com- 
monly made  notes  which  have  been  made  secure  by 
indorsement  of  the  directors.  For  this  reason  it  is 
desirable  to  have  a  board  of  directors  whose  responsi- 
bility is  well  known. 

"Some  mills  have  been  built,  however,  simply  by 
investing  the  money  as  it  came  from  the  members; 
and  while  this  is  somewhat  slow,  yet  when  the  mill  is 
finished  and  in  operation,  it  is  usually  so  much 
property  ahead  for  the  stockholders,  for  it  frequently 
represents  money  that  would  not  have  been  accumu- 
lated at  all,  except  for  the  obligation  of  the  stock- 
holders to  get  together  and  save  so  much  money  each 
week  or  month. 

"By  the  means  of  this  plan  any  ordinary  town  has 
within  itself  the  resources  to  establish  a  cotton 
factory.  And  besides  establishing  a  factory  the 
company  is  practically  a  savings  institution  for  the 
people.  Regular  and  systematic  saving  is  probably 
the  best  of  all  means  to  accumulate  money  and  at  the 


154  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

same  time  encourage  a  spirit  of  thrift  and  cooperation 
amongst  the  people  of  any  locality.  Any  good 
farmer  could  take  one  thousand  dollars  stock,  paying 
two  hundred  and  fifty  out  of  each  crop  for  four  years. 

"A  mill  built  on  this  plan,  when  once  finished,  is 
just  as  good  property  for  the  stockholders  and  does  a 
town  or  city  just  as  much  good  as  if  it  had  been  built 
with  money  brought  from  elsewhere.  In  fact,  it  is 
more  advantageous,  as  its  construction  develops  a 
latent  resource  out  of  which  further  development  is 
sure  to  come. 

*'The  preliminary  preparation  for  the  organization 
of  such  a  company  in  the  way  of  preparing  the  right 
kind  of  character,  by  laws  and  subscription  list, 
should  be  left  to  the  engineer  selected  to  make  plans 
and  guide  the  company  in  the  conduct  of  its  affairs. 

"It  is  very  important  for  a  company  of  inex- 
perienced people  to  select  a  good  engineer  and  then 
rely  upon  his  knowledge,  skill,  and  judgment.  Any 
attempt  to  build  a  mill  without  good  counsel  will  be 
troublesome.  Advice  picked  up  here  and  there, 
free  of  charge,  is  worth  just  what  it  costs,  viz.,  noth- 
ing. A  good  engineer  will  charge  a  good  fair  price, 
and  will  handle  the  matter  just  as  a  good  lawyer 
would  a  lawsuit,  or  as  a  physician  would  handle  a 
case  of  sickness.  There  are  numbers  of  good  en- 
gineers in  the  country  whose  records  for  successful 
work  become  a  guarantee  for  the  success  of  whatever 
they  undertake. 

"By  the  plan  herein  explained  those  towns  in 
which  the  people  are  waiting  for  some  capitalist  to  come 
and  to  build  a  mill  may  help  themselves  and  build 
a  mill  without  outside  help.  Capital  naturally  seeks 
investment  amongst  people  who  have  themselves 
exhibited  resource  and  capability.     When  a  cotton 


CAPITAL  FOR  MANUFACTURING  155 

mill  has  been  built  on  this  plan,  the  result  is  not  only 
a  manufacturing  plant  for  the  town,  but  a  savings 
institution  has  been  worked  out  in  the  manner  of 
raising  the  money  with  which  to  build  the  mill.  Every 
one  of  the  towns  and  cities  of  the  southeast  that  are 
now  well  known  as  manufacturing  places  built 
their  first  factory  out  of  native  resources  and  without 
outside  help.  As  a  result,  whenever  New  England 
money  is  looking  for  investment,  it  is  likely  to  go  to 
one  of  these  places  where  success  has  already  been 
demonstrated. 

"In  one  or  two  cases  another  feature  has  been 
introduced,  viz.,  subscribers  give  notes  for  the  amount 
of  their  subscriptions.  By  this  plan  the  company 
has  the  notes  to  use  for  collateral  in  case  of  borrowing 
money;  and  if  the  notes  are  made  interest-bearing, 
then  the  burden  of  interest  falls  on  the  subscribers 
and  not  on  the  treasury  of  the  company. 

"As  soon  as  the  mill  is  in  operation  the  matter 
of  interest  balances,  provided  the  profit  equals  or 
exceeds  the  interest  account.  If  the  stockholders 
pay  the  interest,  then  the  mill  ought  to  pay  a  divi- 
dend from  the  time  it  starts  up.  But  if  the  mill 
carries  any  interest  account,  on  account  of  any  un- 
paid subscriptions,  then  the  stockholders  ought  not 
to  expect  any  dividend  until  the  stock  is  paid  in  full. 

"The  factories  built  with  capital  raised  on  the 
above  plan  have  all  been  successful,  and  are  now 
doing  well." 


CHAPTER  XI 

PROMOTER      OF      INDUSTRIAL      AND      TECHNICAL 
EDUCATION — TRUSTEE    OF    NORTH    CAROLINA 
COLLEGE    OF    AGRICULTURE    AND    ME- 
CHANIC   ARTS — ^ADDRESS    ON 
TECHNICAL   EDUCATION 

THE  development  of  the  New  South  was  much 
hindered  by  lack  of  skilled  labor  and  tech- 
nical knowledge.  The  supply  of  orators  and 
statesmen  exceeded  that  of  mechanics  and  engineers. 
Tompkins  was  deeply  impressed  by  this  condition. 
His  education  at  the  Rensselaer  Polytechnic  Insti- 
tute, his  apprenticeship  in  the  Bethlehem  Iron  Works, 
his  construction  and  management  of  cotton  mills, 
cotton  oil  mills,  fertilizer  works,  and  electric  power 
and  light  plants,  his  manufacture  of  machinery,  his 
inability  to  procure  workmen  for  these  enterprises, 
his  business  connection  with  Northern  manufacturers 
of  machinery,  his  frequent  trips  North  with  observa- 
tion and  study  of  Northern  progress  in  wealth,  popula- 
tion, education,  and  industries,  all  confirmed  and 
strengthened  his  conviction  that  the  industrial  supe- 
riority of  the  North  was  due  to  technical  skill  and 
knowledge  rather  than  to  superior  natural  resources 
or  superior  natural  ability.  The  difference  between 
the  two  sections  he  credited  to  their  systems  of  educa- 
tion and  labor;  on  the  one  hand,  a  system  of  intelli- 
gent, educated,  free  labor — on  the  other,  of  ignorant, 
untrained,  and  irresponsible  slaves.    Now  that  slav- 

156 


PROMOTER  OF  EDUCATION  157 

ery  was  gone,  ignorance  must  go  with  it.     The  New 
South  must  be  founded  on  education. 

In  the  midst  of  labors  and  activities  that  would 
overtax  an  ordinary  man  he  took  up  the  task  of 
arousing  the  South  to  an  appreciation  of  the  value 
of  education  in  developing  wealth  and  power.  He 
threw  his  energy  and  talents  into  a  campaign  of  educa- 
tion which  he  kept  up  for  twenty  years  in  public 
speeches,  in  addresses  before  schools,  colleges,  and 
universities,  in  newspaper  and  magazine  articles, 
in  appeals  to  manufacturers,  in  the  establishment  and 
operation  of  mill  schools,  in  urging  and  assisting 
young  men  to  avail  themselves  of  the  best  educational 
training  and  culture. 

"The  South  must  move  in  the  matter  of  educa- 
tion," said  he,  "and  keep  moving,  else  in  time  the 
people  who  are  keeping  up  and  ahead  in  education 
will  own  the  rest  of  the  country.  As  *  eternal  vigi- 
lance is  the  price  of  liberty,'  so  persistent  energy 
in  keeping  pace  with  progress  is  the  price  of  being 
amongst  the  successful  peoples  of  modern  times. 
Ohio  is  not  furnishing  our  Presidents  by  accident. 
It  is  not  by  accident  that  I  go  from  Charlotte  to  the 
North  to  buy  water  wheels,  gas  engines,  etc.  It  is 
because  of  systems  of  education  that  qualify  the 
people  to  be  the  most  competent  to  do  these  things. 
The  South  should  follow  this  lead,  and  never  rest  till 
our  people  lead  the  world  in  education.  If  we  do 
this,  we  will  then  take  a  leading  part  in  supplying 
the  world  with  manufactured  products.  The  natural 
resources  of  the  South  are  unsurpassed.  We  need 
knowledge  and  skill  to  handle  them  to  our  own  ad- 
vantage, and  we  ought  to  qualify  the  youth  of  the 
South  to  handle  them  for  our  own  people  and  not 
wait  supinely  for  strangers  to  come  and  take  posses- 


158  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

sion  of  them,  thus  leaving  the  wages  paid  by  the 
stranger  to  be  the  only  advantage  to  our  own  people.*' 

In  a  striking  letter  from  Dayton,  Ohio,  published 
in  the  Charlotte  Observer  and  copied  extensively 
by  the  Southern  press,  he  elaborates  this  idea  as 
follows:  "The  central  Northwest  is  an  area  great 
in  population,  wealth,  and  intelligence.  Chicago 
on  the  Lakes  and  Cincinnati  on  the  Ohio  are  great 
cities,  but  there  are  many  others  that  would  be 
boasted  great  in  population  and  commerce  if  they 
were  in  other  parts  of  the  nation. 

"What  is  it  that  makes  the  wealth  and  influence 
of  this  central  Northwest.? 

"The  great  and  controlling  factor  in  making  the 
people  of  the  central  Northwest  rich  and  powerful 
is  education.  The  public  schools  here  in  Dayton 
are  of  unbounded  interest.  These  are  some  of  the 
figures  in  round  numbers: 

Population  of  Dayton      .      .      .  85,000 

Cost  of  high  school  building.      .  $330,000 

Number  of  district  schools    .      .  19 

Number  of  school  teachers    .  350 

Salaries  of  teachers,  each        $400  to  $1,500 

Aggregate  salaries       ....  $200,000 

Students  in  high  school   .      .      .  1,050 

Pupils  in  district  schools .      .      .  14,000 

"How  can  the  cost  of  such  expensive  systems  be 
borne  .'^ 

"Some  of  the  graduates  of  these  schools  are  the 
mechanics  who  make  water  wheels  which  are  sent  to 
North  Carolina;  and  some  of  the  money  comes  from 
these.  Others  make  oil  mill  machinery,  which  goes 
to  North  Carolina;  and  more  of  the  money  comes 


PROMOTER  OF  EDUCATION  159 

from  there.  Others  make  Corhss  engines,  which  go 
to  North  Carohna;  and  still  more  of  the  money  comes 
from  there.  And  so  on  with  many  other  articles 
requiring  knowledge  and  skill  to  make. 

**But  we  get  some  of  this  money  back;  for  I  saw 
in  a  large  dry  goods  jobbing  house  a  pile  of  goods 
with  'Highland  Park  Manufacturing  Company' 
on  the  bands.  Quite  a  lot  were  from  the  Cone 
Export  Company,  of  Greensboro,  and  there  were 
white  goods  from  Piedmont,  Anderson,  and  Green- 
wood, S.  C. 

"In  the  exchange  of  products  between  Dayton 
and  Charlotte  the  former  has  the  advantage.  We 
used  to  exchange  our  raw  cotton  for  whatever  we 
needed.  Latterly  we  are  doing  better,  and  we  now 
exchange  cotton  goods  that  are  plain  enough  to  be 
made  by  labor  that  has  little  or  no  education  and 
scant  skill,  for  gas  engines,  photo-engravings,  etch- 
ings, water  wheels  of  high  efficiency,  and  other  prod- 
ucts carrying  better  profits  and  made  by  higher 
class  and  better  paid  workmen.  But  Charlotte 
is  going  forward,  perhaps,  at  a  better  pace  than 
Dayton  is  now  going.  Whether  we  gain  or  lose  in 
the  race  is  to  my  mind  a  question  of  education." 

He  was  in  constant  demand  as  a  speaker  on  educa- 
iional  topics;  for  his  power  of  thought,  his  clearness 
of  expression,  his  forceful  illustrations,  and  his  wide 
knowledge  made  him  entertaining,  instructive,  and 
inspiring.  Literary  clubs  and  lyceums,  school  and 
college  commencements,  alumni  associations,  boards 
of  trade,  state  legislatures,  conventions  of  the  various 
professions,  associations  of  manufacturers,  bankers, 
and  farmers  kept  him  busy.  He  responded  to  in- 
vitations as  often  as  he  could  get  away  from  business 
engagements.     He  spoke  before  the  leading  colleges 


160  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

and  universities  of  the  South  and  a  large  number 
of  high  schools  and  academies.  Such  audiences  were 
especially  pleasing,  because  he  saw  in  them  potential 
centres  of  wide  influence. 

One  of  his  addresses,  delivered  before  college 
men  in  North  Carolina,  reviewed  the  educational 
and  industrial  history  of  the  State,  emphasized  the 
commercial  value  of  education,  and  demanded  better 
equipment  for  the  State  institutions. 

"In  all  the  world,"  said  he,  "education  is  one  of 
the  cheapest  things  to  buy  and  one  of  the  highest 
priced  things  to  sell.  States  and  nations  spend 
money  in  various  ways  and  in  large  sums  to  promote 
commerce,  or  to  improve  agriculture.  No  fostering 
appropriations  contribute  so  much  toward  any  of 
these  as  the  same  amount  of  money  would  contribute 
to  them  all  if  expended  in  education." 


"Some  countries  have  exports  that  are  small  in 
tonnage  but  large  in  money  values.  These  large 
values  in  money  on  very  small  tonnage  show  the 
prices  obtained  for  education.  Our  people  sell 
cotton  at  six  cents,  send  it  to  Germany  where  it  is 
manufactured  into  socks,  and  we  buy  it  back  at  $1.00 
a  pound.  We  send  our  finest  upland  long  staple 
cotton  to  France  at  fifteen  cents  a  pound,  where  it  is 
made  into  fine  organdies  and  we  buy  it  back  at  $40  a 
pound.  We  send  our  Sea  Island  cotton  at  twenty- 
five  cents  a  pound  to  Switzerland,  where  it  is  made 
into  Swiss  embroidery;  and  we  buy  it  back  at  $80  a 
pound.  When  our  people  buy  these  goods  they  pay 
mostly  for  education." 


PROMOTER  OF  EDUCATION  161 

"The  wealth  of  the  State  Hes  in  her  undeveloped 
resources.  The  poverty  of  the  State  lies  in  the  want 
of  education  and  training  of  the  people  for  the  profit- 
able development  of  these  resources.  Strangers  are 
coming  from  other  states  that  are  more  liberal  to 
their  people  in  matters  of  education,  to  take  advan- 
tage of  our  rich  resources.  In  letting  this  come 
to  pass,  is  the  State  fair  to  her  own  home  people? 
Shall  the  best  resources,  the  best  salaries  and  compen- 
sations go  to  strangers  because  our  home  legislators 
refuse  the  necessary  facilities  to  home  people  to  be  as 
fairly  taught  and  as  fairly  trained  as  those  strangers.^ 

"For  the  interests  of  our  people  it  is  imperative 
that  we  bring  our  State  University  to  be  the  full 
equal  of  Harvard,  Yale,  the  University  of  Michigan, 
or  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  and  our  State  Agri- 
cultural and  Mechanical  College  to  be  the  equal 
of  the  Rensselaer  Polytechnic  Institute,  the  Co- 
lumbia School  of  Mines,  or  the  Massachusetts  In- 
stitute of  Technology.  The  cost  of  an  education 
to-day  at  either  of  our  State  institutions  is  probably 
about  two  to  five  hundred  dollars  a  year.  The 
education  received  at  this  low  cost  may  easily  be 
made  by  application  and  integrity  to  bring  a  salary, 
or  other  increase,  of  1,200,  2,500,  5,000,  10,000,  and 
even  25,000  dollars  a  year.  Resources  and  oppor- 
tunities are  here  in  this  State  in  abundance;  educa- 
tion alone  is  necessary  to  bring  out  the  values  of 
them." 

His  interest  in  public  schools  was  no  less  marked. 
He  advocated  popular  education  as  an  essential  basis 
of  industrial  progress.  He  demanded  an  increase 
of  taxes  for  public  schools,  although  a  large  tax  payer 
himself  and  a  large  contributor  privately  to  both 


102  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

public  and  private  schools.  He  demanded  better 
schools  and  longer  school  terms,  even  if  the  State 
should  be  compelled  to  issue  bonds.  The  following 
editorial,  written  by  him  and  published  in  the  Char- 
lotte Observer,  of  which  he  was  controlling  owner, 
sounds  a  trumpet  call  to  the  Legislature: 

"plant  the  flag  of  education" 

"This  State  has  vast  resources  which  have  lain 
dormant  through  the  centuries  past,  and  the  develop- 
ment of  which  has  just  begun  in  the  last  few  years. 
Whatever  advance  education  has  made  in  the  State 
has  been  perhaps  the  most  valuable  factor  in  conduc- 
ing to  the  beginning  of  the  development  of  the  re- 
sources of  the  State.  Everj^  educational  institution 
has  contributed  to  the  end  of  qualifying  the  youth 
of  the  State  to  know  the  resources  that  are  here,  and 
to  stay  at  home  to  help  develop  them,  whereas 
formerly  tho  youth  of  the  State  had  to  go  to  some 
other  distant  section  to  find  occupation  and  profit. 
A"  "Whatever  else  the  legislature  does  or  does  not  do, 
it  ought  to  plant  the  flag  of  education  through  the 
State.  Instead  of  hesitating  too  much  about  the 
cost,  we  should  make  certain  of  at  least  six  months' 
school,  and  take  chances  on  raising  the  money.  It 
is  really  a  case  where  we  cannot  afford  to  do  less  than 
establish  a  six  months'  school  term  throughout  the 
State.  The  education  will  show  the  way  for  raisin^^ 
the  money.  We  are  not  here  regarding  education 
as  so  much  of  a  burden  upon  the  resources  of  the 
State,  but  rather  as  means  of  bringing  the  State's 
L_  resources  to  profitable  fruition.  H  Better  education 
will  not  only  conduce  to  more~fax  money,  but  will 
conduce  also  to  better  observance  of  the  rules  of 


PROMOTER  OF  EDUCATION  163 

the  Christian  religion,  to  better  morals,  to  better 
thrift  and  economy,  to  better  industry,  to  the  better- 
ment of  the  children  and  youth  of  the  State,  and 
to  the  general  prosperity  of  the  State  in  all  future 
time.  We  earnestly  recommend  to  the  legislature 
that  it  make  sure,  first,  of  an  increase  of  the  school 
term,  and  then  raise  the  money  the  best  we  can,  if 
we  go  in  debt  a  little  more.  The  schools  and  the 
education  of  the  youth  of  the  country  will  pull  us 
through  in  the  matter  of  the  debt;  but  if  we  let 
things  drift  into  the  alternative  of  ignorance,  ignor- 
ance will  never  improve  the  State  in  any  particular." 
An  editorial,  directed  at  the  manufacturing  towns 
of  North  Carolina,  sets  forth  his  ideas  of  elementary 
industrial  education,  as  follows: 


"trade  schools" 


"  This  State  has  developed  a  large  number  of  manu- 
ufacturing  centres.  In  different  centres  the  manu- 
facturing is  different.  Durham  and  Winston  manu- 
facture tobacco;  High  Point,  furniture;  Charlotte, 
Rockingham,  and  other  centres  manufacture  cotton. 
There  is  great  need  of  trade  schools  as  they  exist  in 
Germany  and  as  they  have  been  developed  to  a  very 
considerable  extent  in  other  continental  countries 
and  in  England.  Such  schools  should  be  adapted 
to  the  particular  manufactures  prevalent  in  a  com- 
munity. If  it  requires  a  knowledge  of  the  game  and 
practice  to  develop  skill  to  play  baseball,  we  know 
that  it  requires  more  knowledge  and  skill  to  qualify 
a  man  to  spin  yarn,  make  furniture,  and  manufacture 
tobacco  or  trousers.  These  all  require  as  high  a 
degree  of  special  knowledge  and  special  skill  as  play- 
ing football  or  playing  baseball.     We  all  know  what 


1C4  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

sort  of  a  figure  a  man  would  cut  going  on  a  baseball 
or  football  field  wholly  unskilled,  to  undertake  to  play 
with  the  modern  players.  In  view  of  the  different 
kinds  of  education  the  formulation  of  the  plans 
should  be  left  to  local  centres  of  manufacturing  dis- 
tricts. This  would  seem  necessary  fully  to  adapt 
the  school  to  the  local  needs.  Teaching  ought,  to  a 
large  degree,  to  be  done  not  in  courses  of  study  but 
to  the  extent  and  of  the  kind  that  the  applicant  wants. 
Learning  should  be  dispensed  by  the  quart  and  the 
gallon  as  well  as  by  the  barrel.  Here  in  Charlotte 
some  movement  looking  toward  a  trade  school  has 
been  accomplished  by  the  Christian  Association 
people  both  in  their  main  building  in  the  city  and  in 
the  Southern  Industrial  Institute  at  Hopkins.  Some 
work  has  also  been  done  at  other  points  in  the  way 
of  small  beginnings. 

"One  or  more  well-developed  trade  schools  in  a 
centre  like  Charlotte  should  have  the  recognition 
of  the  State  and  of  the  public  school  authorities. 
The  future  development  of  manufactures  is  very 
dependent  upon  special  education  and  training. 
In  Massachusetts  a  great  deal  of  attention  has  been 
given  to  this  subject,  and  in  time  our  educational 
authorities  will  have  to  take  it  up  and  do  something." 

An  editorial,  intended  to  influence  sentiment  in  his 
native  town  of  Edgefield,  S.  C,  set  forth  his  ideas  of 
education  for  a  community  partly  agricultural  and 
partly  manufacturing : 


"a  proposed  system  for  EDGEFIELD** 

"The  system  should  begin  with  the  kindergarten. 
It  should  then  go  through  the  7th  or  9th  grades  of 
literary  and  scholastic  education,  with  such  contact 


PROMOTER  OF  EDUCATION  165 

With  practical  features  as  are  available.  It  should 
have  a  small  farm;  and  farm  work  should  be  demon- 
strated to  the  scholars.  Then  it  should  continue 
through  the  high  school,  and  there  should  be  classes 
in  the  special  activities  in  practical  work  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. In  the  grades  the  pupils  should  be 
thoroughly  grounded  in  the  three  'Rs.'  In  the  high 
school  they  should  have  the  equivalent  of  a  practical 
apprenticeship  in  some  trade,  and  they  should  study 
special  technicalities  that  apply  to  the  various  voca- 
tions of  the  neighborhood.  This  in  Edgefield  should 
include  the  manufacture  of  cotton  oil  and  other  prod- 
ucts of  cottonseed,  the  manufacture  of  yarn  and 
cloth  from  cotton.  It  should  also  especially  in- 
clude instruction  in  farming,  both  from  books  and 
from  practical  demonstration;  and  there  should  be  a 
good  course  for  domestic  science  for  the  young  woman. 
This  high  school  can  ultimately  be  brought  to  be 
the  equivalent  of  a  college,  and  can  be  made  to  yield 
values  out  of  the  resources  in  and  around  Edgefield 
through  its  educated  graduates.  The  school  should 
be  a  free  school,  and  should  ultimately  be  the  central 
school  for  the  county,  at  the  same  time  be  a  tributary 
school  to  the  A.  &.  M.  and  Winthrop,  the  Citadel 
and  the  University." 

In  1893  Tompkins  was  appointed  by  the  governor 
and  confirmed  by  the  State  Senate,  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  the  North  Carolina  College 
of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts,  which  had  been 
recently  established  under  the  provisions  of  the  Mor- 
rill Act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States — "to 
provide  Colleges  for  the  Benefit  of  Agriculture, 
Mechanic  Arts,  and  Military  Tactics."  From  this 
date  until  his  death,  with  an  interval  of  two  years, 
he  was  a  member  of  the  governing  board   of  the 


166  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

college,  and  was  the  most  potential  factor  on  the 
board  in  molding  the  character  and  developing 
the  work  of  the  institution  along  lines  in  harmony 
with  its  mission.  At  the  time  of  his  appointment 
the  college  was  in  its  fourth  year,  struggling  for 
existence,  with  a  small  faculty,  with  scant  equip- 
ment and  very  inadequate  support  either  from  pat- 
ronage or  from  legislative  appropriation.  The 
State  was  suffering  from  poverty;  agriculture  was  its 
chief  resource,  and  agricultural  products  were  at  a 
low  price.  The  people  were  pinched  in  living  and 
were  not  disposed  to  support,  either  by  patronage 
or  by  taxation,  institutions  for  higher  education. 
The  university  w^as  very  grudgingly  given  a  mere 
pittance;  and  even  this  pittance  was  used  as  a  fire- 
brand by  demagogues  and  bigots  to  inflame  popular 
passion  and  prejudice.  There  was  little  appreciation 
of  the  value  of  higher  education ;  and  very  few  people 
comprehended  even  vaguely  the  purpose,  character, 
or  value  of  technical  education  and  industrial  training. 
Until  the  appointment  of  Tompkins,  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  the  college,  although  consisting  of  hon- 
est men  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  college,  had 
not  included  a  single  member  who  had  received  a 
thorough  technical  education.  This  great  desider- 
atum was  now  supplied  by  a  man  whose  talents,  edu- 
cation, experience,  ambition,  and  public  spirit  made 
him  a  blessing  to  the  institution  and  the  State.  His 
missionary  work  in  the  South  as  speaker,  writer, 
lecturer,  on  technical  and  industrial  education;  his 
practical  work  as  organizer,  builder,  and  manager 
of  industrial  enterprises;  his  long  and  powerful  ad- 
vocacy of  popular  education;  his  skill  and  knowledge 
and  experience  as  a  civil  engineer  were  all  now  to 
culminate  in  the  work  of  organizing  and  building  up 


PROIMOTER  OF  EDUCATION  167 

and  directinoj  a  great  people's  college  for  technical 
and  industrial  education.  His  service  on  the  Board 
of  Trustees  extended  through  nineteen  years,  during 
which  period  the  writer,  as  president  of  the  college, 
was  closely  associated  with  him  for  nine  years  in  the 
college  management.  His  advice  and  assistance 
were  always  helpful  and  freely  given.  He  was  not 
only  level-headed  and  practical  but  well-trained  and 
experienced  in  all  lines  of  college  work,  especially 
in  civil,  mechanical,  and  electrical  engineering  and 
textile  work.  In  agriculture  he  was  well-informed, 
experienced,  broad-minded,  progressive,  and  scienti- 
fic. He  would  visit  every  department  of  the  college, 
inspect  its  work,  and  suggest  something  helpful.  But 
he  was  not  meddlesome  nor  officious.  He  had 
neither  interest  nor  part  in  the  little  wrangles  and 
petty  discussions  over  small  details  of  college  life 
which  so  often  engage  the  attention  and  deeply 
interest  the  minds  of  college  trustees  lacking  in  busi- 
ness experience  and  enjoying  narrow  views  of  life. 
He  understood  the  necessity  of  leaving  all  details  of 
management  to  the  college  officials. 

The  development  of  the  college  was  his  aim;  and 
he  sought  to  achieve  it  by  all  possible  agencies:  by 
competent  teachers  with  adequate  salaries;  by  ample 
equipment  in  shops  and  laboratories;  by  lofty  ideals 
and  high  standards  of  efficiency;  by  healthful,  hand- 
some, modern  buildings;  by  wholesome,  generous 
diet.  His  aim  was  the  evolution  of  a  technical 
college  in  keeping  with  the  spirit  of  the  age  and  worthy 
of  a  commonwealth  of  two  million  people. 

To  the  president  of  the  college  Tompkins  was  a 
comfort  and  a  help  in  many  perplexing  and  discour- 
aging problems.     His  vision  of  future  developments, 
coupled    with   tolerant   acceptance   of   unavoidable 


168  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

temporary  deficiencies,  rendered  him  a  most  help- 
ful adviser.  The  most  depressing  condition  in 
the  early  college  days  was  the  low  grade  of  in- 
struction and  the  low  standards  of  attainment.  In 
discussing  this  condition  Tompkins  would  always 
accept  it  as  a  temporary  necessity.  "It  will  soon 
give  place  to  something  better,"  he  would  say.  Of 
an  indifferent  teacher  he  would  say,  "He  is  a  cheap 
man,  and  we  can  expect  little  from  him.  We  shall 
do  better  in  time."  Of  trifling  and  frequently  vicious 
pupils  he  would  say:  "The  college  is  new,  and 
the  whole  idea  of  industrial  education  is  new  to  our 
people,  who  were  wedded  to  the  old  traditions  of 
education.  The  college  cannot  attract  the  best 
material  all  at  once,  but  in  due  time  it  will  come.'* 
Of  a  building  faulty  in  construction,  or  a  department 
poorly  equipped,  he  would  say:  "It  is  poor,  indeed, 
but  better  than  nothing.  It  will  do  for  a  beginning." 
In  education,  as  in  business,  he  was  for  doing  the 
best  possible  with  the  material  available. 

His  mental  attitude  was  always  helpful.  While 
tolerant  of  present  imperfections,  he  understood 
thoroughly  what  was  essential  to  improvement  and 
future  development.  Others,  to  whom  were  en- 
trusted the  destinies  of  the  college,  whether  members 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees  or  members  of  the  State 
Legislature,  were  firmly  and  proudly  fixed  in  the 
belief  that  the  meagre  and  antiquated  plant  of  the 
college  was  superior  to  anything  in  the  old  world 
or  the  new.  Tompkins  knew  better,  for  he  had  seen 
the  best  equipment  and  experienced  the  best  training 
and  enjoyed  a  large  experience.  His  was  an  intel- 
ligent estimate  of  technical  and  industrial  education. 
And  yet  he  was  prompt  to  make  the  most  of  whatever 
was  available.     He  would  start  with  a  ten-thousand- 


PROMOTER  OF  EDUCATION  169 

dollar  equipment,  knowing  that  it  would  soon  be- 
come a  million-dollar  plant.  "I  will  make  a  begin- 
ning of  a  career  in  iron  if  I  have  to  start  as  a  black- 
smith  at  a  country  crossroads."  This  had  been  the 
animating  principle  of  his  early  life,  and  he  applied 
it  to  the  early  life  of  a  technical  college. 

Tompkins  was  a  great  favorite  with  the  college 
students,  who  loved  to  hear  him  speak,  and  mani- 
fested by  attention  and  applause  their  keen  apprecia- 
tion of  his  best  thoughts.  He  never  talked  down  to  a 
college  audience,  but  presented  them  with  his  loftiest 
ideals  and  his  deepest  thoughts.  He  delivered 
before  the  faculty  and  students  an  address  worthy 
to  be  printed  on  the  walls  of  every  Southern  college. 
It  manifests  in  a  high  degree  his  fine  talents  as  thinker 
and  speaker,  his  sympathy  with  young  men  and  abil- 
ity to  inspire  them,  his  love  of  the  South,  his  appre- 
ciation of  the  value  and  power  of  skill  and  knowledge, 
his  love  of  mankind  and  broad  views  of  life. 

The  address  was  as  follows : 

TECHNICAL   EDUCATION 

AN    ADDRESS    DELIVERED    TO    THE    STUDENTS    OF    THE    NORTH    CAROLINA 

AGRICULTURAL  AND  MECH.ANICAL  COLLEGE  AT  WEST 

RALEIGH,  DECEMBER  15,   1899 

*T  have  come  from  my  work  and  appear  before  you 
in  my  working  clothes.  If  I  had  done  this  ten  years 
ago  I  would  have  appeared  in  a  suit  of  overalls, 
with  a  hammer  in  one  hand  and  a  coal  chisel  in  the 
other.  I  regard  it  to  be  far  the  most  important  feat- 
ure of  my  education  as  an  engineer  that  I  served 
an  apprenticeship  at  the  machinist's  trade,  and  had 
a  long  term  of  experience  as  a  journeyman  machinist. 
I  also  had  a  service  as  draftsman,  and  then  as 
master  mechanic.     It  was  ten  years  after  I  graduated 


170  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOX^TH 

from  the  Rensselaer  Polytechnic  Institute,  of  Troy, 
N.  Y.,  as  an  engineer,  before  I  assumed  to  undertake 
any  comprehensive  engineering  work  on  my  own 
responsibility.  This  ten  years  was  a  period  of  prac- 
tice and  arduous  training. 

"As  the  burden  of  what  I  shall  say  to  you  to-night 
will  be  to  emphasize  the  importance  of  training  and 
skill,  as  well  as  of  study  and  knowledge,  I  hope  that 
the  scant  reference  I  have  made  to  my  own  work 
may  be  taken  as  simply  to  show,  at  the  outset,  that 
I  have  conscientiously  practised  what  I  shall  recom- 
mend and  urge  upon  you  as  being  necessary  for  the 
best  interests  of  Southern  progress  and  for  your  fu- 
ture welfare  and  success  in  life. 

"Enough  has  been  said  and  written  about  the-value 
of  technical  education  to  create  great  expectations 
on  the  part  of  those  who  have  been  its  promoters 
and  patrons.  In  some  instances  there  has  been  dis- 
appointment. Sometimes  mothers  and  sisters  have 
kept  boarders  and  washed  dishes  to  keep  a  bright 
son  and  brother  in  school,  with  the  fond  expectation 
that  when  he  graduated  he  would  get  a  position  at  a 
good  salary,  set  up  a  house  for  them  to  keep,  and 
with  nothing  else  to  do.  It  has  sometimes  happened 
that  the  young  graduate  has  returned  home  with  a 
fine  education,  only  to  add  an  unprofitable  member 
to  the  household.  His  mother  and  sisters  could  ob- 
serve that  he  had  learned  much,  that  his  conduct 
was  gentlemanly  and  honorable,  that  he  indus- 
triously sought  employment,  that  he  was  perfectly 
willing  to  work,  yet  he  found  nothing  to  do.  Under 
these  circumstances  there  is  naturally  disappoint- 
ment. For  the  time  being  it  would  naturally  seem 
to  them  that  technical  education  had  not  all  the  ad- 
vantages claimed  for  it.     The  trouble  in  such  cases 


PROMOTER  OF  EDUCATION  171 

is  that  the  young  man  has  been  amply  equipped 
in  the  matter  of  teaching,  but  he  was  deficient  in 
training  or  skill.  He  knew  the  theories,  but  he 
served  no  apprenticeship. 

"There  have  been  absolutely  no  cases,  where  knowl- 
edge and  skill  have  been  combined,  where  easy  suc- 
cess has  not  followed. 


ENGINEERING  AND  MUSIC 

"Engineering  is  a  science  and  an  art.  For  the 
science  careful  study  is  necessary.  For  the  art  ardu- 
ous practice  is  necessary.  It  may  be  compared 
to  music,  which  is  also  a  science  and  art.  Let  us 
suppose  it  had  been  the  sister  who  was  to  have  been 
educated,  and  music  was  to  have  been  her  career. 
If  she  had  gone  to  a  conservatory  and  studied  to  the 
utmost  limit  all  the  science  of  music,  but  had  never 
practiced  it,  what  could  she  have  done  in  giving  a  con- 
cert.^ If  she  had  come  home  thoroughly  equipped 
in  the  science  of  music,  but  without  practice,  she, 
too,  would  have  been  compelled  to  become  one  more 
of  the  household  to  be  supported. 

"There  was  a  time  when,  for  an  ordinary  commun- 
ity, the  musical  requirements  were  simple.  Who- 
ever could  turn  a  tune  on  a  violin,  or  thump  a  tune 
on  a  piano  by  ear,  was  a  musician.  So,  also,  there  was 
a  time  when  the  man  having  practice  but  no  education 
— the  self-made  man  of  the  former  generation — was 
the  great  boast  of  his  day.  With  the  more  exacting 
conditions  of  these  modern  times,  with  the  advancing 
of  civilization,  we  hear  nothing  about  the  self-made 
man,  about  the  man  whose  college  was  a  canal  boat. 

"These  were  men,  however,  of  sterling  worth. 
While  they  had  scant  knowledge,  they  had  amazing 


172  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

skill;  and  they  performed  wonders  in  handling  human- 
ity and  in  accomplishing  material  results  to  their 
country's  advantage.  Some  of  them,  realizing  their 
own  deficiencies  in  education,  and  realizing  what  a 
tremendous  advantage  additional  education  would 
have  brought  to  them,  founded  schools;  but,  remark- 
able to  relate,  they  caused  to  be  formulated,  in  most 
cases,  courses  of  instruction  in  what  they  were  them- 
selves deficient  in  and  omitted  all  care  as  to  the  re- 
liable training  that  they  possessed.  They  founded 
universities  without  systems  of  training  or  practice. 
"Perhaps  the  best  educated  people  who  ever  lived 
in  the  United  States  were  the  Southern  planters' 
sons  before  the  Civil  War,  if  their  future  occupation 
is  taken  into  consideration.  These,  in  their  youth, 
all  had  a  full  apprenticeship  in  the  work  of  planting 
cotton  and  tobacco.  Whether  required  to  do  it  or 
not,  they  rode  mules,  drove  wagons,  and  did  all  the 
operations  on  a  plantation.  The  young  man  growing 
up  on  a  plantation  not  only  knew  about  mules  in 
general,  but  he  knew  the  characteristics  of  each  mule 
on  the  place.  He  knew  every  negro  on  the  place. 
He  knew  every  ordeal  of  the  plantation  life,  and  at  an 
early  age  knew  these  details  better  than  his  father 
did.  Add  to  this  perfect  apprenticeship  a  college 
education,  and  you  have  the  education  of  the  men 
who  in  the  ante-bellum  days  governed  the  nation. 
They  were  successful  in  the  government  of  the  nation 
because  for  the  then  existing  conditions  they  had 
been  well  educated  and  trained. 

VALUE  OF  TECHNICAL  EDUCATION 

"In  material  value  a  well-rounded  technical  educa- 
tion, made  up  of  equal  parts  of  knowledge  and  skill, 


PROMOTER  OF  EDUCATION  173 

is  difficult  to  estimate.  The  Rensselaer  Polytechnic 
Institute  was  founded  in  1820,  and  the  graduates 
were  the  chief  factors  in  the  development  of  the  Amer- 
ican railway  system,  in  contra-distinction  to  the 
English  system,  which  latter  was  followed  and  copied 
throughout  Europe.  These  graduates  almost  in- 
variably started  in  railway  service  as  rodmen  and 
chainmen.  And  they  do  yet,  at  pay  something  like 
$30  a  month.  They  then  find  places  as  section  bosses, 
then  as  division  superintendents,  and  finally  as  presi- 
dents, as  was  the  case  with  the  late  Mr.  George  B. 
Roberts,  who  was  the  president  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad,  and  Mr.  A.  J.  Cassatt,  who  is  now  presi- 
dent. We  have  far  the  finest  and  most  practical 
system  of  railways  in  the  world;  and  the  distinction 
of  the  system  is  its  originality.  The  American 
bridge  system  is  also  the  outcome  of  that  school. 
The  Reeveses  of  the  Phoenix  Bridge  Works  and  the 
Roeblings,  who  built  the  great  Brooklyn  Bridge,  are 
all  graduates  from  Rensselaer. 

"In  metallurgy  we  always  needed  high  protective 
duties,  until  the  Columbia  College,  New  York,  sent 
out  some  graduates  who  were  well  equipped  m 
metallurgical  knowledge  and  in  skill.  I  regard  that 
the  rapid  progress  we  have  lately  made  in  the  pro- 
duction of  cheap  and  excellent  iron  and  steel  on  an 
expert  basis  is  due  more  to  the  work  done  by  the 
graduates  of  that  school  than  to  any  other  cause. 
There  are  now  a  number  of  schools  in  both  engineer- 
ing and  metallurgy  that  are  turning  out  graduates 
that  are  as  well  educated  as  those  who  come  out 
of  the  schools  referred  to;  but  those  referred  to  led 
the  way  in  their  respective  subjects.  The  magnitude 
of  the  developments  in  each  of  these  divisions  of 
industrial  progress  have  been   simply   stupendous. 


17*  A  HriLDKR  (W  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

We  liave  inoro  .nul  In  tier  railroads  than  all  the 
rest  of  the  world  put  together;  and  after  a  long  and 
hard  fight  of  England  to  keep  her  system  as  the  stan- 
dard one  for  foreign  countries,  and  very  little  on  our 
part  to  introduce  ours,  it  has  come  to  pass  that  ours 
is  credited  as  being  much  the  best  and  is  now  being 
readily  introduced  in  many  foreign  countries,  not- 
ably in  Russia. 

"In  pig  iron  and  steel  we  have  also  brought  out 
processes  and  methods  to  such  perfection  that  we 
make  the  best  and  cheapest  product  in  the  world; 
and  our  expert  trade  in  these  is  growing  to  enormous 
proportions. 

"Unhappily,  we  have  no  such  schools  in  applied 
chemistry,  in  what  might  be  called  chemical  engineer- 
ing, nor  in  textile  engineering.  These  are  fields 
practically  as  large  as  others,  and  from  a  scientific 
point  of  view  are  practically  untouched  in  America. 
Chemical  engineering  might  bring  wonderful  results 
out  of  our  cotton  oil  and  other  raw  products.  Ger- 
many has  given  much  attention  to  the  development 
of  applied  chemistry ;  and  as  a  result  she  has  magnifi- 
cent chemical  works  in  which  even  coal  tar  and  many 
valuable  products  are  obtained,  such  as  aniline 
dyes,  medicines  like  phenacetine,  antipyrine,  and 
other  valuable  stuffs.  Germany  has  also  developed 
a  system  of  textile  schools  as  a  result  of  which  we 
send  our  cotton  to  Chemnitz  at  six  and  seven  cents 
a  pound,  to  be  manufactured  there  and  sent  back  to 
us  in  the  shape  of  knit  goods  at  one  dollar  and  up- 
ward a  pound.  All  the  freight  charges  going  and 
coming  are  paid  to  German  ships,  always  to  German 
labor,  and  all  the  dyestuffs  come  from  the  German 
manufacturers.  We  simply  get  our  seven  cents,  and 
pay  back  our  dollar. 


PROMOTER  OF  EDUCATION  175 

"Let  us  look  into  one  of  our  homely  products,  and 
see  what  we  might  make  of  it,  if  our  people  had  the 
knowledge  and  the  skill.  Reckoning  our  North 
Carolina  cotton  crop  as  worth  to  the  producer  an 
average  of  six  cents  from  one  year  to  another,  we  would 
have  500,000  bales,  as  cotton  at  six  cents,  yielding 
$15,000,000.  This  same  cotton,  manufactured  into 
cotton  cloth,  would  be  tripled  in  value,  and  500,000 
bales,  as  cloth  at  eighteen  cents,  yields  $45,000,000. 

"We  already  manufacture  about  three  hundred 
thousand  bales  into  yarn,  or  into  white  and  colored 
cloth,  which  means  that  we  are  turning  about  ten 
million  dollars'  worth  of  cotton  into  thirty  million 
dollars'  worth  of  product.  We  do  this  with  our  own 
home  people  as  operatives;  and,  therefore,  between 
the  manufacturer,  the  operator,  and  the  foreman,  the 
whole  two  hundred  per  cent,  is  profit. 

"With  agricultural  colleges,  experiment  stations, 
fertilizer  control,  and  by  other  means,  wisely  pre- 
pared by  our  legislators,  we  have  been  able  to  keep 
down  the  cost  of  producing  cotton  to  an  extent  to 
continue  to  control  the  production.  The  production 
and  prices  show,  however,  that  we  have  reached  a  ten- 
million-bale  crop,  which  at  six  cents  has  yielded  us 
$300,000,000.  We  find  that  when  we  have  a  five- 
million-bale  crop,  it  yielded  us  twelve  cents,  or  the 
sum  of  $300,000,000,  and  when  we  made  two  and  a  half 
millions  it  yielded  twenty -four  cents,  or  again  the 
same  $300,000,000.  Could  we  have  curtailed  the  pro- 
duction and  increased  the  price.?  Such  a  plan  would 
seem  to  me  impossible.  India,  copying  our  method 
and  buying  our  machinery,  is  already  producing 
more  cotton  than  we  did  twenty  years  ago.  Egypt, 
also,  even  at  the  low  prices,  is  increasing  her  produc- 
tion.    The  English,  who  control  both  those  countries, 


176  A  BOLDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

are  exerting  themselves  to  the  utmost  to  stimulate 
cotton  production  in  those  countries. 

"We  have  reduced  the  cost  of  production  to  a  point 
where  further  reduction  can  only  be  a  differential 
quality;  a  saving  of  one  cent  a  pound  in  producing 
the  entire  crop  of  the  State  would  only  aggregate 
two  and  a  half  million  dollars,  whereas  the  same  crop, 
manufactured  into  plain  cloth,  would  be  increased  in 
value  $30,000,000.  In  the  distribution  of  this 
aggregate  gain  the  farmer  would  be  the  greatest 
beneficiary.  Because  of  the  proximity  of  the  mills  the 
North  Carolina  farmer  already  gets  from  one  half  cent 
to  one  cent  more  for  his  cotton  than  the  Texas  or 
Missouri  farmer  gets.  This  is  not  all,  however;  he 
gets  home  markets  for  his  fruits,  vegetables,  poultry, 
milk,  butter,  and  a  great  variety  of  perishable  food- 
stuffs that  can  be  produced  on  a  farm,  while  the 
operatives  of  the  neighboring  factory  make  a 
market.  Whenever  cotton  is  tripled  in  value  by 
manufacture,  the  adjacent  lands  are  tripled  also  in 
value.  The  increased  price  of  cotton,  the  in- 
creased price  of  land,  and  the  increased  markets  are 
all  gain  to  the  farmers,  to  say  nothing  of  the  new 
avenues  of  success  and  fortune  opened  up  to  his  sons 
and  daughters.  Amongst  our  people  the  farmer's 
interest  in  developing  manufactures  is  the  greatest. 
In  truth,  in  this  generation,  we  can  have  only  such 
manufactures  as  the  farmers  develop — for  all  of  us 
are,  or  have  been,  farmers. 

"The  estimate  of  an  increase  to  three  times  the 
value  of  raw  cotton  when  made  into  cloth  relates  only 
to  the  plainest  sheeting  and  plaids.  This  is  what 
may  be  done  with  the  least  possible  knowledge  and 
skill.  Take  the  fancy  ginghams,  such  as  the  Toile  de 
.  Nord,   made  by   my  friend,   Mr.   A.   H.   Lowe,  in 


PROMOTER  OF  EDUCATION  177 

Fitchburg,  Mass.,  and  these  will  reach  sixty  cents  a 
pound,  or  ten  times  the  value  of  cotton  at  six  cents. 
Our  North  Carolina  crop  of  500,000  bales  worth  as 
cotton  $15,000,000,  if  made  into  the  ginghams  would 
be  worth  $150,000,000,  or  half  as  much  as  the  entire 
crop  of  the  South  brings  as  cotton.     Even  this  is  not 
by  any  means  the  limit.     My  friend,  Mr.  H.  H. 
Hargrove,  of  Shreveport,  Lc,  told  lately  of  having 
weighed  a  dress  pattern  of  fine    French    organdie. 
The   entire   piece   weighed   one  third   of  a  pound, 
and  it  sold  at  eighty  cents  a  yard,  or  an  aggregate 
of  $24  a  pound.     The  cotton  in  this  was  of  course 
the  best  Sea  Island,  but  even  that  probably  cost  not 
exceeding  twenty-five  cents  a  pound,  while  the  prod- 
uct is  selling  in  our  stores  here  at  $24  a  pound.     The 
difference  is  what  we  pay  the  German  and  French 
men  and  women,  for  their  knowledge  and  skill — for 
their   technical   education,   which   we  haven't  got. 
"The  designs  of  the  patterns  are  made  largely  by 
artists,  affording  profitable,  agreeable,  and  artistic 
employment,   at  home,   to  young  ladies,   who   are 
educated  and  skilful  in    artistic    designing.     It    is 
evident  from  the  prices  charged  for  these  goods  that 
everybody  who  works  in  any  of  the  processes  gets  high 
salaries,  which  makes  the  goods  come  high;  but  our 
home  young  ladies  are  beautiful,   and  must  have 
beautiful  goods  to  wear,  even  if  the  money  must  be 
sent  to  France  and  Germany,  until  our  own  people 
learn  how  to  make  the  nicer  fabrics.     I  have  spoken 
of  how  a  nice  gingham  costs  sixty  cents  a  pound. 
Omitting  altogether  the  really  finer  stuffs,  such  as 
French  organdies,   and  dotted  Swiss  muslins,   and 
taking  a  fabric  at  $1.20  a  pound,  which  could  be 
.i^  made  with  a  modicum  of  education  and  training,  the 
nSlorth  CaroUna  crop  of  $500,000  bales  (I  speak  in 


178  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

round  numbers  always)  would  be  worth,  if  manu- 
factured into  goods  of  this  value^  $300,000,000,  or  as 
much  as  the  entire  South's  cotton  crop  is  worth  as 
raw  cotton.  I  believe  we  have  ample  population  to 
do  this,  and  that  all  that  is  needed  is  knowledge  and 
skill,  or  technical  education." 

CAPACITY   OF   THE   PEOPLE 

"Twenty  years  ago  our  friends  in  New  England 
asserted  with  some  emphasis  that  Southern  people 
could  not  manufacture  cotton  at  all.  It  was  said 
that  the  climate  was  enervating,  that  the  people  of 
the  South  had  no  mechanical  taste,  and  a  lot  of 
other  reasons  were  given  why  the  attempt  would  fail. 
But  it  succeeded.  Then  it  was  said  that  some  coarse 
goods  might  be  made  but  never  the  finer  stuffs.  It 
is  not  a  matter  of  inherent  capability  nor  of  climate, 
but  purely  one  of  technical  education. 

*'The  development  of  our  manufactures  in  the  last 
twenty-five  years  is  a  revival  rather  than  a  new 
development.  The  taste  and  capability  exhibited 
by  the  present  generation  is  an  inheritance,  and  not 
a  thing  of  entirely  new  birth.  In  the  early  days  of 
the  Republic  the  South  was  the  manufacturing 
section  of  the  Union.  By  the  United  States  census 
of  1810  the  manufactured  products  of  Virginia,  the 
Carolinas,  and  Georgia  exceeded  in  value  and 
variety  those  of  the  entire  New  England  States  and 
New  York  put  together.  The  Henrietta  Cotton 
jMill,  near  Rutherford,  is  on  the  site  of  an  old  iron 
works.  The  High  Shoals  INIill,  now  being  built  near 
Lincolnton,  had  to  be  cleared  of  some  brick  stacks  of 
old  Catlin  forges  to  make  way  for  the  new  founda- 
tions.    Throughout  the  Piedmont  region  there  are 


PROMOTER  OF  EDUCATION  179 

many  evidences  of  former  extensive  manufacturing 
plants  and  much  prosperity.  I  have  at  home  a  copy 
of  a  contract  in  accordance  with  which  a  machinist 
at  Lincolnton  made  all  the  machinery  necessary  to 
equip  a  cotton  mill  complete  having  a  date  of 
1813. 

"This  manufacturing  spirit  and  its  success  gave  rise 
o  many  schemes  for  internal  improvement.  Iron 
and  other  goods  were  carried  from  the  Lincolnton 
and  other  Piedmont  sections  to  Fayetteville  by 
wagon,  and  thence  down  the  Cape  Fear  River  on 
boats,  and  thence  to  Boston  in  sailing  vessels. 

"The  poison  that  ultimately  destroyed  this  develop- 
ment, these  great  Southern  manufacturing  interests, 
was  the  institution  of  slavery.  As  this  grew  in 
strength,  manufactures  dechned,  until  by  the  time 
of  the  war  they  were  well-nigh  dried  up.  There  were 
those,  however,  who  made  a  tremendous  fight  for 
their  preservation  and  for  the  extension  of  our 
commerce.  The  founders  of  the  Republic,  most  of 
the  leaders  amongst  whom  were  Southern  men,  did 
everything  in  their  power  to  develop  American 
manufactures  and  retain  American  commerce;  and 
these  principles  made  better  headway  at  that  time  in 
the  South  than  in  the  North.  Charleston  had  fair 
promise  at  one  time  of  becoming  the  greatest  Ameri- 
can port.  It  was  a  promise  based  upon  the  capability 
and  enterprise  of  her  people.  When  the  South 
Carolina  Railway  was  built  it  was  one  of  the  great 
engineering  works  of  the  world.  It  was  extended 
from  Charleston  to  the  head  of  navigation  on  the 
Savannah  River,  to  take  the  cotton  coming  down  the 
river  in  flat  boats  by  rail  to  Charleston  instead  of 
letting  it  go  in  boats  to  Savannah.  They  extended  a 
branch  to   Columbia,   to  catch   the  cotton   on  the 


ISO  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

Congaree  in  the  same  way.  Then  they  undertook  to 
get  a  Hne  through  to  the  Mississippi  River  at  Mem- 
phis, there  to  catch  the  cotton  and  Northwestern 
produce,  and  turn  it  to  Charleston.  Largely  by  the 
influence  of  the  people  of  Charleston,  the  State  of 
Georgia  either  aided  or  wholly  built  roads  from 
Augusta  to  Atlanta  and  from  Atlanta  to  Chattanooga 
— calling  the  latter  the  Western  and  Atlantic,  the 
name  indicating  what  the  motive  was  in  its  building. 
There,  pushing  on  farther,  the  Memphis  &  Charles- 
ton was  built  from  Chattanooga  to  Memphis,  the 
name  again  indicating  some  meaning  as  to  the 
plans.  When  this  road  was  finished,  making  a 
through  route,  there  was  a  special  run  over  the  entire 
route  carrying  a  party  of  Charleston  and  Memphis 
people,  and  also  carrying  a  barrel  of  water  which 
had  been  taken  out  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and 
which  was  emptied  into  the  bay  at  Charleston, 
indicative,  as  it  were,  of  the  future  course  of  the 
Mississippi  River  commerce.  While  not  appreciating 
the  increasing  strength  of  slavery  or  its  blighting 
influence,  the  people  of  the  South,  observing  the 
tendency  of  manufactures  to  decline,  made  heroic 
efforts  looking  to  internal  development.  After 
successfully  developing  a  great  railway  line  to  Mem- 
phis, the  people  of  Charleston  formulated  plans  for 
building  a  direct  road  from  Charleston  to  Cincinnati. 
Mr.  Robert  Y.  Hayne  was  the  chief  promoter  of  the 
enterprise,  and  devoted  much  time  to  it.  In  getting 
the  necessary  legislation,  his  talents  excited  such 
admiration  that  he  was  sent  to  the  United  States 
Senate  as  the  colleague  of  INIr.  John  C.  Calhoun;  and 
the  debates  betwixt  Webster  and  Hayne  about 
slavery  were  perhaps  the  most  noted  that  ever  were 
conducted  in  the  United  States  Senate.     But  Mr. 


PROMOTER  OF  EDUCATION  181 

Hayne,  even  at  the  height  of  his  poHtical  fame,  never 
lost  sight  of  interest  in  his  Charleston-Cincinnati 
railroad;  and  in  the  interval  of  his  Congressional 
duties  he  spent  much  of  his  time  in  Asheville,  N.  C, 
looking  after  his  interests. 

*' There  was  an  extraordinary  situation:  Mr. 
Hayne  was  at  the  same  time  the  teacher  of  two 
tremendous  and  opposing  institutions,  for  the  success 
of  either  meant  the  destruction  of  the  other. 

"Had  the  road  to  Cincinnati  been  completed,  the 
tide  of  export  commerce  from  Pittsburgh  down  the 
Ohio,  thence  from  Cincinnati  to  Charleston,  the 
agricultural  products  from  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois, 
then  the  Northwest  but  meagrely  developed,  and 
from  the  states  south  of  the  Ohio  would  probably 
have  led  to  interests  greater  than  that  of  slavery,  and 
therefore  to  the  peaceful  abolition  of  the  institution. 
Mr.  Hayne  succeeded,  however,  better  with  his  de- 
fense of  slavery  than  in  the  construction  of  his  great 
railroad. 

"In  North  Carolina  Colonel  John  M.  Morehead  led 
the  forces  for  internal  development  and  the  extension 
of  commerce.  He  caused  to  be  built  the  North 
Carolina  Railroad,  reaching  from  Goldsboro  to 
Greensboro.  Then  also  the  road  from  Goldsboro  to 
Morehead  City.  Then  plans  were  formulated  to 
build  a  road  from  Salisbury  to  the  Tennessee  line 
near  Ducktown.  It  was  then  contemplated  to  form 
a  private  company  to  build  a  connection  through  to 
Chattanooga,  thus  reaching  Memphis  over  the 
Memphis  and  Charleston.  If  this  road  had  been 
built,  and  the  roads  all  consolidated,  North  Carolina 
would  now  have  a  direct  line  from  Memphis  to  tide 
water  at  Morehead  City.  Every  phase  of  the  history 
of  your  ancestors  and  their  work  shows  them  to  have 


182  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

been  men  of  sterling  abilities  and  great  enterprise. 
They  ruled  the  government  in  those  days  because 
they  had  the  best  possible  education  and  training  in 
practical  affairs. 

"The  increasing  agitation  about  slavery  and  the 
increasing  interest  taken  by  Southern  people  in  the 
subject  gradually  drew  interest  and  energy  away 
from  the  beneficent  works  of  enterprise,  and  brought 
on  the  Civil  War  with  its  disastrous  results. 


SO-CALLED   RECONSTRUCTION 

"Comparing  the  wealth  of  this  State  with  that  of 
Massachusetts,  it  may  seem  to  you  that  your  parents 
had  left  you  a  scant  inheritance.  It  may  seem  as  if 
they  had  not  made  much  of  a  success  of  life.  Let  us 
see  to  this.  In  the  period  that  succeeded  the  Civil 
War  the  whole  South  was  plunged  into  a  state  of 
semi-anarchy.  After  having  all  their  property  swept 
away,  and  the  former  system  of  labor  completely 
destroyed,  your  parents  had  forced  upon  them  an 
experiment  in  human  affairs  never  before  attempted 
in  the  world.  It  was  one  involving  the  ability  of  the 
white  race  to  preserve  the  Anglo-Saxon  civilization 
under  the  most  adverse  conditions  and  the  most 
powerful  opposing  influences.  Under  far  less  pres- 
sure, the  Latin  race  in  Cuba  and  South  America 
descended  toward  the  inferior  race.  In  a  war  for 
civilization  lasting  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  your 
fathers  have  held  one  hand  ready  at  all  times  to 
defend  their  homes,  while  with  the  other  the  re- 
sources of  the  country  have  been  taken  care  of.  They 
have  furnished  the  monopoly  of  the  production  of 
cotton.  They  have  paid  one  third  of  an  enormous 
pension  list,  getting  nothing  in  return.     They  have 


PROMOTER  OF  EDUCATION  183 

paid  two  dollars  for  every  one  that  could  be  applied 
to  the  education  of  their  own  sons. 

"In  the  short  period  since  the  restoration  of  good 
government  they  have  returned  to  the  occupation  of 
their  ancestors,  manufacture;  and  have  demonstrated 
that  cotton  goods  may  be  made  here  to  advanta;:e 
and  profit,  and  on  an  export  basis.  They  have 
developed  a  splendid  industry  in  cotton  oil,  and  on  an 
export  basis.  In  other  parts  of  the  South  the 
passing  generation  has  demonstrated  the  value  of 
other  resources,  and  the  practicability  of  developing 
them  profitably,  such  as  iron,  lumber,  phosphates, 
etc.  They  have  founded  such  schools  as  this,  to 
prepare  you  to  take  charge  of  this  great  inheritance. 
All  this  is  to  be  delivered  to  you  unencumbered  for 
you,  as  it  has  been  for  them  in  the  past. 

"They  have  won  the  fight  for  civilization.  There  is 
no  race  problem  now.  There  is  no  anarchy.  You 
have  as  fine  opportunity  before  you  as  ever  a  genera- 
tion of  young  men  had  in  the  world.  If  each  of  you, 
taking  advantage  of  these  opportunities,  should  grow 
rich,  and  should  build  honor  for  your  parents  and 
keep  them  in  luxury  the  remainder  of  their  days,  you 
would  not  approximately  settle  the  debt  you  owt 
them  for  what  they  have  endured  for  civilization  and 
for  your  welfare. 

THE   REAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

"The  real  reconstruction  of  this  State  is  in  your 
hands.  It  is  for  you  to  take  up  the  great  work  of 
internal  development  where  your  grandparents  left 
it  off.  I  have  attempted  to  show  that  you  come  of  a 
race  of  broad-minded,  progressive,  and  successful  men. 
In  their  day  and  time  they  fostered  by  wise  means  the 


184  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

development  of  manufactures.  They  formulated 
and  executed  comprehensive  plans  for  internal  devel- 
opment. They  created  and  put  in  motion  a  system 
of  agriculture  which  has  resulted  in  the  production 
annually  of  ten  million  bales  of  cotton  in  an  area 
that  is  small  as  compared  with  the  cotton  areas  of 
China,  India,  Egypt,  and  South  America.  This  is  the 
greatest  result  in  agriculture  ever  accomplished  by 
any  people  in  the  world. 

"Your  forefathers  made  one  mistake — committed 
one  error — slavery.  The  whole  industrial  fabric  of 
New  England  is  going  forward  to-day  on  lines  that 
were  worked  out  and  partly  executed  three  quarters 
of  a  century  ago  by  the  people  of  this  State. 

"Slavery  is  gone.  The  anarchy  that  succeeded  the 
Civil  War  is  gone.  Besides  preserving  for  you  in 
untarnished  purity — the  civilization  of  your  an- 
cestors— which  required  ceaseless  vigilance,  toil,  and 
privation,  your  parents  have  laid  for  you  the  founda- 
tions for  the  reestablishment  of  manufactures,  the 
further  development  of  agriculture,  and  for  renewed 
zeal  in  the  work  of  internal  development.  In  the 
prosecution  of  this  work  they  have  not  been  so 
situated  as  to  allow  you  luxuries  or  any  form  of  ex- 
travagant indulgences. 

"Thus  it  transpires  that  you  have  had  at  home  a 
constant  discipline  in  economy  and  self-control  that 
has  been  Spartan  in  its  severity.  The  very  enforced 
simplicity  of  your  early  lives,  the  very  earnestness  of 
your  parents  in  work  of  saving  honor  and  civihza- 
tion  out  of  the  wreck  wrought  by  slavery  and  the 
Civil  War,  have  kept  you  in  an  atmosphere  that  ought 
to  have  made  sound  minds  in  sound  bodies  and 
further  qualified  you  in  moral  character  to  give  you 
something  of  the  abilities  of  your  ancestors.     The 


PROMOTER  OF  EDUCATION  185 

organization  of  this  very  school  is  part  of  the  work 
your  parents  have  done  for  your  future  advantage. 
They  are  ready  to  turn  over  to  you  as  a  heritage  the 
great  resources  of  the  South  with  the  work  of  develop- 
ment already  well  begun.  In  the  short  while  since 
they  returned  to  this  work  of  development  the 
people  of  the  South  have  put  cotton  goods,  cotton 
oil,  iron  and  lumber  upon  an  export  basis.  In  all 
these  the  fires  of  the  new  industry  have  been  started 
for  you. 

"It  is  yet  to  be  seen  whether  you  are  capable  of 
handling  wisely  and  well  the  greatest  heritage  ever 
developed  by  a  going  generation  to  a  coming  one. 
For  myself  there  is  not  a  shadow  of  doubt  about  the 
result.  I  confidently  believe  that  your  generation 
will  restore  to  North  Carolina  the  wealth  which 
relatively  she  once  enjoyed,  and  bring  back  to  her 
people  the  progressive  and  ruling  qualities  which 
were  characteristic  of  your  ancestors. 

"For  the  future  greatness  of  the  State  the  resources 
are  all  here. 

"We  have  a  race  of  young  men  in  whose  veins  flow 
the  blood  of  those  who  were  the  leaders  in  the  great 
battle  for  freedom  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  of  those  who  were  leaders  in  the  early  days, 
of  those  who  made  the  Republic  strong  by  wise  and 
comprehensive  measures  for  the  development  of 
agriculture,  manufactures,  and  commerce. 

"The  mistake  of  slavery  is  now  a  thing  of  the  past. 
The  results  of  the  mistake  have  all  been  repaired  by 
your  fathers  except  one.  Our  deficiency  is  Technical 
Education.  Even  for  this  they  have  provided  the 
means.  The  final  solution  of  the  problem  remains 
alone  with  you.  The  graduates  from  this  school — 
the  classes  now  before  me — ought  to  formulate  the 


186  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

plans  and  put  in  operation  the  new  systems  of  agri- 
culture, manufactures,  and  commerce  that  will  re- 
store to  this  State  something  of  its  former  splendor 
in  the  Union,  and  will  determine  the  course  which 
every  state  in  the  Union  must  go,  to  keep  the  lead- 
ing pace  that  you  will  set. 


CHAPTER  XII 

BUILDER    OF    TEXTILE    SCHOOLS — THE    S.    C.    TEXTILE 

SCHOOL — THE  N.  C.  TEXTILE  SCHOOL — THE  MISSISSIPPI 

TEXTILE    SCHOOL — PROGRESS    IN    OTHER    STATES 

THE  next  step  taken  by  Tompkins  in  behalf  of 
industrial  education  and  cotton  manufac- 
tures was  the  building  of  textile  schools.  He 
resolved  to  make  a  beginning  by  establishing  a 
school  in  his  native  town.  The  following  letter  to 
his  friend  and  fellow  worker,  R.  H.  Edmonds,  editor 
of  the  Manufacturers'  Record,  sets  forth  his  purpose 
and  plan : 

"You  know  of  the  hotel  building  I  have  at  Edge- 
field.    I  enclose  a  cut  of  it. 

"I  have  been  figuring  on  using  this  building  for 
Textile  School  purposes.  It  might  seeni  that  Edge- 
field is  not  a  proper  place  because  of  its  isolation.  I 
have  thought  over  this  carefully,  and  I  believe  that  it 
is  as  good  a  place  as  can  be  found  in  the  South  and 
better  than  most  places.  For  inspecting  factories 
trips  could  be  made  to  Augusta,  Piedmont,  Pelzer, 
Columbia,  and  other  places.  The  students  and 
pupils  would  be  free  to  study,  as  they  would  not  be  in 
a  city.  All  industrial  centres  could  contribute  to 
and  support  it  without  prejudice.  There  is  now  at 
Edgefield  a  plant  comprising  an  oil  mill,  a  ginnery, 
and  a  cotton  factory.  This  one  plant  would  be  bet- 
ter than  twenty  cotton  mills  without  a  ginnery  or 
oil  mill. 

187 


188  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

"My  idea  has  been  to  go  ahead  and  open  the 
school  without  asking  for  help  beforehand,  or  support 
beforehand.     I  had  thought  of  asking  the  following 
gentlemen  to  serve  as  a  Board  of  Trustees: 
R.  H.  Edmonds,  Baltimore,  Md. 
J.  O.  Hemphill,  Charleston,  S.  C. 
James  L.  Orr,  Piedmont,  S.  C. 

"Also  some  good  mill  man  in  Augusta  and  myself. 
This  would  make  five,  which  I  think  would  be 
enough. 

"Mr.  E.  W.  Thompson,  who  has  been  with  me 
about  eight  years,  would  make  a  good  man  to  put  in 
charge.  He,  with  some  bright  young  man  to  help 
him,  could  manage  it  to  start  with.  Then  with  such 
help  as  could  be  gotten  we  could  extend  the  school. 
Gifts  of  machinery  or  money  could  be  solicited.  We 
could  also  arrange  with  as  many  mills  as  possible  to 
give  work  to  the  graduates.  By  this  means  we  could 
guarantee  an  opening  to  the  successful  students.  Of 
course  a  mill  could  do  no  more  than  put  a  graduate 
to  work.  His  progress  and  advancement  would 
depend  upon  himself.  At  present  a  young  man  of 
twenty  years  finds  himself  without  an  opening  in  man- 
ufacturing pursuits  for  want  of  knowledge  or  training 
of  any  sort  pertaining  to  manufacturing.  With  the 
good  will  of  mills  to  such  a  school  the  young  graduate 
would  find  himself  possessed  of  all  these,  viz.:  the 
knowledge,  the  skill,  and  the  opening  in  a  mill  to  make 
a  start. 

"I  have  spoken  privately  to  several  of  my  friends 
about  this  plan.  My  suggestions  have  received  the 
hearty  approval  of  my  friends  as  far  as  I  have  gone. 

"I  could  put  Mr.  Thompson  at  Edgefield,  say 
September  15th,  and  open  up  at  once.  I  cannot 
undertake  to  do  this  without  feeling  that  I  shall  have 


BUILDER  OF  TEXTILE  SCHOOLS  189 

a  strong  support  afterward  from  such  men  as  you, 
Mr.  Hemphill,  and  the  mill  men," 

The  impracticability  of  the  Edgefield  project  was 
soon  realized  by  Tompkins.  He  had  formed  it  in 
zeal  and  enthusiasm;  but  his  cooler  judgment  con- 
vinced him  that  textile  schools  are  best  established 
and  supported,  not  by  individuals,  but  by  states  or 
cities. 

He  now  determined  to  promote  the  establishment 
of  textile  schools  in  the  various  Southern  States  to  be 
under  the  control  and  support  of  the  State  govern- 
ments. He  turned  his  attention  first  to  his  native 
state.  "I  took  up  the  subject  with  my  friends  in 
South  Carolina,"  he  says  in  his  memoirs,  "with  the 
idea  of  having  a  textile  department  at  Clemson 
College.  I  found  it  easy  to  excite  interest.  Mr. 
Benjamin  R.  Tillman,  U.  S.  Senator,  promptly 
favored  my  plans.  Col.  D.  K.  Norris,  for  whom  I 
was  engineering  the  new  Norris  cotton  mill,  also 
favored  them.  Finding  public  sentiment  decidedly 
favorable  and  the  prospects  bright  for  the  school,  I 
decided  to  make  a  tour  of  inspection  of  the  textile 
schools  in  the  United  States  and  England.  I 
visited  Philadelphia  and  looked  over  the  textile 
school  there.  I  visited  England  and  looked  up 
textile  schools  there.  I  was  not  only  inspecting  and 
studying  these  textile  schools,  but  was  on  the  lookout 
for  a  man  to  be  director  at  Clemson  if  the  textile 
department  should  be  established.  Mr.  C.  P. 
Brooks  was  recommended  to  me.  After  several 
conferences  I  asked  him  to  bring  his  wife  to  tea  with 
me  at  my  hotel.  He  did  so;  and  I  was  well  enough 
impressed  to  make  an  engagement  with  him  to  go  to 
America  at  a  salary  of  $2,500  a  year  and  expense  of 
the  trip  over  for  him  and  wife.     He  was  to  be  one  of 


190  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

the  engineers  for  the  Tompkins  Company;  and,  if 
the  Clemson  Textile  Department  was  established,  he 
was  to  go  there  if  I  wished  it.  Mr.  Brooks  worked 
for  the  Tompkins  Company  in  this  tentative  way 
about  a  year.  Meanwhile,  the  State  of  Massachusetts 
had  inaugurated  a  movement  for  a  series  of  textile 
schools,  and  the  one  at  Lowell  had  been  begun.  Mr. 
Brooks'  arrival  in  America  and  the  purpose  of  his 
coming  had  been  pretty  well  advertised  by  notices  in 
the  public  press;  and  when  Lowell  wanted  a  textile 
director,  they  offered  Brooks  $3,500  a  year.  He 
consulted  me  as  to  his  desire  to  take  the  place  and  his 
moral  obligation  to  me.  I  promptly  told  him  the 
offer  was  more  than  Clemson  could  pay,  and  advised 
him  to  accept  it."* 

Public  sentiment  in  South  Carolina  was  growing 
rapidly  in  favor  of  a  textile  department  at  Clemson, 
and  the  public  looked  to  Tompkins  to  shape  the 
policy  of  the  department  and  arrange  the  courses  of 
instruction.  He  was  invited  by  the  trustees  of  the 
college  to  present  before  them  his  views  concerning 
the  proposed  textile  department.  After  performing 
this  duty,  he  subsequently,  at  the  request  of  the 
Board,  embodied  his  ideas  in  the  following  letter: 

Charlotte,  N.  C,  Aug.  24,  1897. 
To  the  Hon.  R.  W.  Simpson,  Chairman 
and  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
Clemson  College,  S.  C. 
Gentlemen : 

Pursuant  to  your  request,  made  when  I  discussed 
before  your  board  the  subject  of  a  textile  department 
at  Clemson  College,  I  submit  the  following  sug- 
gestions : 

•Mr.  Brooks  became  first  director  of  the  Lowell  Textile  School  and  afterward  director 

aud  organizer  of  the  New  Bedford  Textile  School. 


BUILDER  OF  TEXTILE  SCHOOLS  191 

I  conceive  Clemson  College  to  have  been  estab- 
lished in  deference  to  the  wishes  of  the  people  of  the 
state  to  have  a  school  where  the  youth  of  the  state 
could,  in  getting  an  ordinary  college  education,  do  it 
in  a  way  that  would  qualify  them  to  find  an  easier 
entrance  into  some  profitable  occupation  than  it  was 
found  could  be  done  from  the  ordinary  literary 
institutions.  The  education  and  training  given  at 
such  an  institution  ought  to  be  of  a  kind  that  is 
calculated  to  be  most  useful  to  the  graduate  and  also 
of  the  greatest  advantage  to  the  other  people  of  the 
state  at  large. 

For  the  accomplishment  of  these  advantages,  it 
seems  apparent  that  the  courses  of  study  and  training 
should  relate  to  those  pursuits  into  which  students 
could  at  once  enter  in  the  state. 

Two  industries  which  have  developed  more  rapidly 
and  more  extensively  perhaps  than  any  other  in  the 
state,  are  the  manufacture  of  cotton  oil  and  the 
manufacture  of  cotton.  The  youth  of  the  state  have 
found  employment  to  a  very  great  extent  in  oil  mills 
and  cotton  mills.  What  they  know  of  these  subjects 
has  been  necessarily  picked  up  by  the  rule-of-thumb 
method.  Both  these  industries  furnish  the  most 
unlimited  opportunities  for  the  work  of  every  gradu- 
ate of  Clemson  inside  the  state.  In  cotton  oil, 
besides  the  process  of  manufacture,  there  are  great 
possibilities  in  refining,  in  making  soap,  in  the  pro- 
duction of  food  stuffs  by  mixing  the  hulls  and  meal, 
in  making  fertilizers,  and  in  other  ways.  With  a 
better  knowledge  of  the  subject  many  collateral  in- 
dustries might  be  established.  Glycerine,  candles, 
fancy  soaps,  table  oils,  and  many  other  articles  of 
great  commercial  value  are  already  made  from  cotton 
oil  in  other  sections  of  this  country,  and  with  a  proper 


192  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

exposition  of  the  knowledge  relating  to  these  subjects 
all  these  products  might  be  made  in  South  Carolina, 
furnishing  lucrative  employment  to  the  young  men 
of  the  state  and  keeping  in  the  state  a  resource  which 
comes  from  a  product  of  the  state. 

In  the  manufacture  of  cotton  the  field  is  probably 
still  greater;  and  the  importance  of  extending 
amongst  the  youth  of  the  state  a  knowledge  of  the 
textile  art  could  hardly  be  properly  estimated.  Up 
to  the  present  time  the  product  of  the  factories  of 
your  state  has  been  chiefly  plain  w^hite  cloth.  Simple 
as  the  manufacture  of  this  cloth  is,  it  has  been  neces- 
sary to  employ  many  men  from  other  sections  of  the 
country  to  conduct  these  operations  in  South 
Carohna,  while  in  many  cases  the  young  graduates 
of  your  state  institutions,  being  untaught  and  un- 
skilled in  the  textile  art,  have  been  compelled  to  go 
North  or  West  to  find  employment  in  fines  where 
their  education  and  training  in  your  schools  is  more 
appficable.  It  is  noticeable  also  that  those  young 
men  who  want  to  go  into  some  line  of  textile  manu- 
facture do  not  consider  any  Southern  school,  but  go 
North  either  to  a  school  or  into  the  shops  or  in  some 
engineer's  office. 

Some  people  think  that  the  development  of  cotton 
manufacture  in  the  South  in  the  line  of  coarse  white 
goods  has  nearly  reached  its  profitable  limit.  If  this 
is  true,  it  is  all-important  that  the  youth  of  the 
present  generation  should  be  educated  to  extend  it 
into  other  lines.  The  tendency  will  naturally  be 
toward  finer  goods  and  toward  colored  dress  goods, 
which  is  a  field  of  infinite  variety. 

Your  state  was  foremost  in  the  development  of 
cotton  production.  On  plans  that  were  formulated 
and  executed  first  in  South  Carolina,  the  cotton  area 


BUILDER  OF  TEXTILE  SCHOOLS  193 

of  the  South  is  furnishing  the  great  bulk  of  the 
cotton  supply  of  the  world.  This  was  all  original 
work.  No  other  people  had  done  such  work.  There 
were  no  methods  to  copy.  Does  it  seem  proper  that 
in  the  manufacture  of  cotton  the  people  of  the  state 
should  content  themselves  with  duplicating  the 
simplest  processes  of  cotton  manufacture  in  other 
sections  and  be  further  content  to  carry  on  these 
processes  largely  under  the  direction  of  men  brought 
from  other  sections,  when  a  great  many  of  the 
youth  of  your  state  are  seeking  profitable  employ- 
ment— in  some  cases,  leaving  the  state  to  find  it? 

This  subject  of  textile  schools  has  received  the 
most  careful  thought  and  attention  in  Europe. 
Some  years  ago  it  was  noted  in  England  that  some  of 
the  continental  countries,  notably  Germany  and 
Switzerland,  were  making  an  increasing  progress  in 
capturing  Enghsh  trade.  Even  in  England,  edu- 
cated young  Germans  were  being  employed  as  super- 
intendents of  dye  works  for  their  chemical  knowledge 
and  their  practical  training  in  making  beautiful 
colors  at  cheap  cost.  Also  for  designing  new  and 
stylish  patterns  in  various  fabrics.  It  came  to  pass 
that  not  only  English  trade  was  suffering,  but  also  the 
practical  English  dyer  and  the  practical  English 
weaver  found  German  and  Swiss  young  men  taking 
their  places.  A  commission  was  appointed  to  go  to 
the  continent  and  make  a  report  of  the  cause  of  the 
growing  continental  trade.  This  commission  found 
magnificent  schools  at  Zurich,  Chemnitz,  and  other 
places.  Steps  were  at  once  taken  to  found  similar 
schools  in  England.  To-day,  Manchester  has  a 
textile  institution  to  furnish  instruction  day  or  even- 
ing, thus  making  it  available  to  young  men  who  have 
to  work  during  the  day  and  can  only  devote  some 


194  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

time  in  the  evenings  to  study.  Many  other  English 
manufacturing  centres  have  established  similar 
schools.  Some  of  the  textile  machine  builders  in 
England  have  founded  schools  of  instruction  in  their 
works.  It  is  astonishing  to  learn  how  much  money 
has  been  spent  on  even  those  schools  which  are 
practically  departments  of  the  business  of  private 
firms.  As  to  the  value  of  all  this  expenditure,  it  is 
suflScient  to  say,  nobody  in  England  doubts  the 
wisdom  of  the  expenditure,  but,  on  the  contrary,  the 
disposition  is  to  still  further  increase  and  cheapen  the 
facilities  for  technical  and  especially  textile  education. 

In  the  United  States  the  New  England  and  the 
Philadelphia  textile  districts  have  both  made  splendid 
progress  in  providing  for  the  collection  and  dissemina- 
tion of  knowledge  in  textile  subjects.  The  first 
textile  school  of  importance  in  the  United  States  was 
established  in  Philadelphia  some  years  ago.  This 
school  has  been  doing  excellent  work,  and  promises  to 
be  of  great  advantage  to  the  Philadelphia  district.  At 
Lowell  a  textile  school  has  lately  been  established 
by  state  and  city  aid.  This  school  has  been  well 
equipped,  and  is  doing  well. 

Such  a  department  at  Clemson  College  would  un- 
doubtedly contribute  to  diversify  the  manufacture  of 
cotton  goods  in  the  state,  and  would  probably  at  an 
early  date  bring  about  the  establishment  of  one  or 
more  bleacheries  and  finishing  works.  Besides  being 
of  advantage  to  the  youth  of  the  state  in  qualifying 
them  for  profitable  employment,  it  should  be  of 
great  value  in  stimulating  the  development  of  the 
resources  of  the  state  in  the  line  of  textile  manu- 
factures. 

Education,  to  be  of  value,  must  not  be  entirely 
pedagogic.     If  an  educational  system  is  applicable 


BUILDER  OF  TEXTILE  SCHOOLS  195 

and  successful  in  one  section,  an  imitation  of  that 
system  is  not  necessarily  the  best  or  even  suitable  for 
another  section.  What  I  say  related,  of  course,  to 
technical  education  in  relation  to  its  application  to 
manufactures.  Therefore,  in  the  light  of  South 
Carolina's  interests,  I  should  put  the  study  of  cotton 
manufacture  ahead  of  that  of  electrical  engineering, 
for  example.  Both  are  important,  and  neither  should 
be  neglected;  but  if  the  study  of  one  must  be  omitted, 
I  should  say  teach  textiles  and  let  electricity  go. 

If  I  can  serve  you  in  any  way  whatever  in  connec- 
tion with  this  matter,  I  beg  of  you  to  command  me. 

The  trustees  decided  to  establish  the  textile  de- 
partment, and  invited  Tompkins  as  constructing 
engineer  to  draw  the  plans  for  the  building  and 
supervise  its  construction.  This  pleasant  duty  he 
performed  with  skill,  energy,  and  enthusiasm;  and 
refused  to  accept  compensation  for  his  services.  It 
had  been  a  labor  of  love. 

The  dedication  of  the  textile  building  and  the 
inauguration  of  the  textile  department  was  cele- 
brated with  imposing  ceremonies,  of  which  the  chief 
feature  was  an  address  by  Tompkins. 

His  audience  was  composed  largely  of  farmers.  A 
few  extracts  from  his  address  will  show  how  easily  he 
adapted  himself  to  his  audience  and  how  strongly  he 
could  appeal  to  special  interests  and  feelings: 

"  I  regard  it  a  rare  privilege  to  be  permitted  to  have 
a  hand  in  the  establishment  of  this  textile  school  here 
to-day  at  Clemson  College.  The  expenditure  now 
being  made  of  twenty-five  to  thirty  thousand  dollars 
is  a  far  better  start  than  any  of  the  original  German 
schools  had.  I  have  no  sympathy  with  that  helpless 
sentiment  which  would  say  Philadelphia  has  spent  a 


196  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

half  million  dollars  on  her  textile  school,  therefore 
our  meagre  twenty -five  thousand  dollars  can  accom- 
plish nothing.  I  am  one  of  those  who  believe  that 
if  only  fifty  dollars  can  be  raised,  a  fifty-dollar  start 
ought  to  be  made.  If  we  want  an  oak  tree  and  have 
nothing  but  an  acorn,  let  us  plant  the  acorn  and 
nurse  the  sprig  and  bush  until  we  have  the 
tree. 

"This  school  is  supported  in  part  by  farmers. 
Why  should  farmers  pay  for  educating  young  men  to 
operate  cotton  factories .^^  Because  by  the  establish- 
ment of  a  factory  in  his  neighborhood,  with  his  son 
as  manager,  the  farmer  can  sell  not  only  his  cotton  to 
the  mill  but  also  his  apples,  peaches,  eggs,  chickens, 
cabbage,  peas,  and  an  infinite  variety  of  stuff  now 
unsaleable  at  any  price,  for  cash  to  the  operatives. 
And  the  money  received  for  these  is  not  local  money 
turned  over,  but  it  is  in  many  cases  brought  from 
abroad  for  cloth,  and  when  let  loose  is  in  addition  to 
the  money  wealth  of  a  community. 

*'I  hold  that  these  new  schools  should  be  open  not 
only  to  young  men  but  to  young  women.  From 
time  immemorial  the  weavers  of  the  world  have 
been  women.  Why,  in  an  advanced  state  of  the  art, 
should  they  be  shut  out.?  They  can  design  fabrics, 
they  can  spin  and  weave  as  well  as  young  men.  I 
favor  their  admission  into  this  new  textile  depart- 
ment. 

"I  believe  we  are  going  to  make  more  cotton  at 
cheaper  prices.  Conventions  to  curtail  production 
will  never  have  any  influence.  The  best  interest  of 
the  farmer  is  to  produce  cotton  cheaper,  in  larger 
quantity,  thereby  making  it  possible  to  send  it  farther 
and  farther  away  from  home.  Inside  of  twenty 
years  the  United  States  will  make  fifteen  million 


BUILDER  OF  TEXTILE  SCHOOLS  197 

bales  of  cotton.  We  must  make  it  cheap,  spin  it 
cheap,  and  weave  it  cheap.  If  we  don't,  other  coun- 
tries will  do  it.  The  more  we  spin  and  weave,  the 
cheaper  we  can  produce  cotton.  This  is  made  possi- 
ble by  the  foodstuffs  consumed  by  the  operatives. 
The  farmer  who  can  get  money  for  apples  that  now 
rot  can  afford  to  raise  and  sell  cotton  cheaper.  The 
time  will  come  when  a  farmer  living  in  a  cotton  manu- 
facturing neighborhood  can  get  more  money  in  a 
year  for  butter,  eggs,  vegetables,  and  fruits,  than  his 
present  cotton  crop  is  worth. 

"Are  the  people  of  this  section  fitted  for  factory 
management.^  I  answer,  Yes.  In  the  early  days  of  the 
republic  the  South  led  in  manufactures.  By  the  cen- 
sus of  1810  the  manufactured  products  of  Virginia,  the 
Carolinas,  and  Georgia  exceeded  those  of  all  New 
England.  The  manufacturing  interests  of  the  South 
were  dried  up  by  the  institution  of  slavery.  Since  the 
abolition  of  slavery  the  aptitude  of  the  Southern 
people  for  manufactures  has  again  promptly  shown 
itself.  In  the  Spanish- American  War  the  achievements 
of  Hobson,  Blue,  Schley,  and  others  have  shown  that 
with  a  reasonable  chance  the  Southern  youth  stand 
always  in  the  front  rank.  In  the  early  days  North 
and  South  Carolina  had  a  well-developed  iron  indus- 
try. In  the  period  since  the  war  x\labama  has  set 
the  pace  for  the  manufacture  of  pig  iron.  The 
Piedmont  region  leads  in  cotton  manufacture.  The 
coming  generation  wants  nothing  but  opportunity, 
and  this  opportunity  is  chiefly  a  matter  of  education 
of  the  right  kind.  Your  agricultural  college  here  is 
the  foundation  of  that  sort  of  education  which  makes 
the  opportunity.  The  textile  department  which  we 
are  met  here  to-day  to  inaugurate  will,  in  my  judg- 
ment, make  one  of  the  most  important  departments 


198  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

in  this  school.  Its  work  ought  to  and  will  largely  in- 
crease the  list  of  cash  farm  products.  It  will  enhance 
the  value  of  all  lands  that  are  near  enough  to  a  fac- 
tory to  reach  the  operatives  with  auxiliary  products 
that  are  now  valueless.  It  is  notable  that  all  fac- 
tories in  the  South  pay  from  |  to  |  of  a  cent  per 
pound  more  for  cotton  than  the  buyer  for  export. 

"  The  farmers  of  South  Carolina  may  well  support 
a  system  of  education  that  will  bring  wealth  to  the 
people  of  the  State.  Who  would  enjoy  it  more  than 
their  sons  and  daughters.^  Some  of  these  will  farm 
and  some  w^ill  run  the  factories.  On  the  other  hand, 
if  our  own  sons  and  daughters  are  not  trained  for 
this  work,  then  educated  men  and  women  must  be 
brought  here  from  other  sections  of  our  country, 
or  from  England  and  Germany,  to  direct  the  manu- 
factures, while  the  sons  and  daughters  of  our  home 
people  will  be  compelled  to  work  under  the  direction 
of  strangers. 

"I  do  not  believe  in  the  plan  of  waiting  for  foreign 
capital  and  foreign  skill  to  come  and  develop  our 
home  industries.  I  believe  rather  in  the  value  of 
teaching  the  sciences  and  the  arts  to  our  own  boys 
and  girls  and  of  having  our  home  industries  developed 
at  home  by  our  home  people.  In  saying  this  it  is  not 
meant  to  promote  any  sentiment  for  shutting  out 
immigration,  or  to  discourage  the  coming  of  foreign 
capital.  People  who  depend  on  these,  however, 
as  against  home  effort,  are  not  promoting  the  perma- 
nent interests  of  the  South." 

On  the  recommendation  of  Tompkins,  Mr.  J.  H. 
M.  Beatty  was  chosen  by  the  Clemson  trustees  as 
director  of  the  Textile  Department.  Mr.  Beatty 
was  qualified  for  the  work  by  talents  and  experience. 
He  had  been  associated  with  Tompkins  for  many 


BUILDER  OF  TEXTILE  SCHOOLS  199 

years  as  machinist,  mill  builder,  mill  worker,  and  mill 
superintendent.  The  organization  of  the  depart- 
ment was  entrusted  to  Tompkins  and  Beatty,  who 
made  comprehensive  plans  for  its  equipment,  di- 
rection, and  growth. 

The  Clemson  Textile  School  has  surpassed  the 
hopes  of  its  most  ardent  friends.  Its  excellent  work 
is  a  noble  monument  to  the  foresight,  the  public 
spirit,  the  engineering  skill,  and  the  organizing  ability 
of  Tompkins.  It  was  one  of  the  favorite  children 
of  his  brain,  for  it  represented  in  his  mind  the  re- 
birth of  his  native  state,  the  new  foundation  of  a 
new  South  Carolina. 

Tompkins  now  turned  his  attention  to  his  adopted 
state,  and  united  his  energy,  enthusiasm,  and  tech- 
nical knowledge  to  other  forces  that  were  working 
for  the  establishment  of  a  textile  school  in  North 
Carolina.  He  neglected  no  opportunity  for  propa- 
ganda, and  rallied  all  available  forces,  especially 
among  the  mill  men  of  the  Piedmont  section.  A  fine 
sample  of  his  skill,  tactful  management,  and  power  as 
a  promoter  of  public  sentiment,  is  furnished  by  his 
utilizing  for  this  campaign  the  closing  exercises  of 
the  Atherton  Mills  Night  School  of  Charlotte.  He 
was  president  of  the  mills,  founder  and  benefactor 
of  the  mill  schools,  friendly  adviser  in  all  the  school 
work.  The  night  school  was  a  novelty  in  Charlotte 
and  a  favorite  with  the  public.  Its  closing  exer- 
cises were  greeted  by  large  audiences.  The  occasion 
was  favorable  for  creating  sentiment,  and  Tompkins 
used  it.  He  selected  as  orator  the  Hon.  Heriot 
Clarkson,  leading  member-elect  to  the  Legislature 
from  Charlotte;  secured  the  attendance  of  promi- 
nent mill  owners  ands  uperintendents;  saw  to  it  that 
influential  mill  workers  from  adjacent  mills  were  on 


200  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

hand  and  treated  with  consideration;  procured,  as 
the  honored  and  distinguished  guest  of  the  occasion, 
Director  Beatty  of  the  South  Carohna  Textile  School. 
He  focused  on  the  closing  exercises  of  this  little  night 
school  the  power,  the  enthusiasm,  and  the  light  of  a 
hundred  different  forces.  Everything  went  off  with 
apparent  ease  and  spontaneity;  but  those  who  knew 
Tompkins  knew  whose  guiding  hand  was  working 
unseen. 

The  Textile  Excelsior  gave  the  following  account  of 
the   occasion:    "Give   honor    where   honor    is   due. 
Those  men  of  our  Southern  country  who  are  devoting 
much  of  their  valuable  time  and  talents  to  the  cause 
of  education  and  to  the  bettering  of  the  conditions  of 
our    factory    workers    deserve    present    recognition 
for  their  services.     The  result  of  this  means  not  the 
personal  glorification  of  any  of  the  leaders  of  such 
movements,    but    the    awakening    and    cooperation 
of  the  communities.     In  this  way  the  improvements 
are  effected.     D.  A.   Tompkins,   of  Charlotte,  has 
been  very  active  in  this  work  of  humanity.   Through 
all  the  mediums  of  his  sphere,  and  they  are  many 
and  far-reaching,  he  has  used  his  influence  for  good  in 
this  direction.     His  efforts,  as  chief  promoter  of  the 
present  South  Carolina  Textile  School,  as  coadjutor 
with  Dr.  McAden  and  other  mill  presidents  in  bring- 
ing the  hours  for  factory  labor  voluntarily  down  to 
eleven  per  day,  all  redound  to  his  credit.  As  president 
of  the  Atherton  Mills,  Charlotte,  Mr.  Tompkins  takes 
an  individual  interest  in  the  factory  hands.     He  has 
provided  them  not  only  a  day  school,  but  a  night 
school  as  well.     Closing  exercises  of  the  latter  for 
the  Christmas  season  were  held  in  the  Atherton  Ly- 
ceum a  week  ago.     On  this  occasion  Heriot  Clarkson, 
Esq.,  who  has  just  been  elected  to  the  Legislature 


BUILDER  OF  TEXTILE  SCHOOLS  201 

from  this  county,  delivered  a  short  address  on  *  Prac- 
tical Education,'  and  in  the  course  of  his  remarks 
said  that  it  was  his  purpose  to  introduce  in  the  com- 
ing Legislature  a  bill  for  a  state  textile  school,  and  he 
intended  to  use  his  utmost  endeavor  to  get  the  bill 
passed;  that  he  thought  it  would  be  a  most  import- 
ant movement  and  of  great  benefit  to  the  mill  owners 
and  operatives  in  the  State.  Mr.  Clarkson  is  one  of 
the  warmest  friends  of  education  for  the  masses, 
and  of  technical  education  for  mechanics,  artisans, 
and  mill  men,  we  have  ever  met.  Several  prominent 
mill  men  were  present,  also  Prof.  J.  H.  M.  Beatty, 
director  of  the  South  Carolina  Textile  School,  who 
said  that  he  would  be  glad  to  see  a  textile  school  in 
North  Carolina  and  would  do  anything  he  could  to 
forward  the  movement.  Mr.  Tompkins  awarded 
the  prizes,  which  he  had  personally  offered  to  inspire 
the  students  to  greater  progress." 

On  the  meeting  of  the  North  Carolina  Legislature 
Representative  Clarkson  promptly  introduced  his 
bill  "for  the  establishment  of  the  Vance  Textile 
School."  The  bill  was  referred  to  the  Committee 
on  Education,  of  which  a  sub-committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  consider  and  report.  Mr.  Clarkson  was 
chairman  of  the  sub-committee,  and  at  his  request 
Mr.  Tompkins  furnished  the  committee  with  the 
following  facts  and  figures: 

"Gentlemen — Pursuant  to  suggestions  made  by 
you  and  other  members  of  the  House,  I  submit  the 
following  data : 

Cotton  raised  in  North  Carolina,  crop 

'96- '97,  bales 521,695 

Cotton  manufactured  in  cotton  mills, 

'98,  bales 326,700 


202  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

Spindles  in  South  Carolina  ....  1,325,390 

Spindles  in  North  Carolina.      .      .      .  1,054,686 

Spindles  in  Georgia 749,314 

No.  mills  in  North  Carolina.     .      .      .  220 

No.  mills  in  South  Carolina.     ...  75 

No.  mills  in  Georgia 69 

Looms  in  South  Carolina     ....  39,458 

Looms  in  North  Carolina     ....  24,535 

Looms  in  Georgia 21,094 


PEOPLE   EMPLOYED 


Men     .      .      . 
Women .     . 
Children  over  14 
Girls  under  14. 
Boys  under  14. 


Total  wage  earners    . 

No.  people  supported  directly 

Aggregate  wages .... 


9,660 

13,240 

6,190 

950 

810 

30,750 

100,000 

$5,670,490 


Value  of  500,000  bales  cotton  (about 
the  State's  crop)  at  6  cts.  . 

Same,  manufactured,  at  18  cts. 

Same,  manufactured  into  finer  goods, 
at  36  cts.  (if  we  know  how).    . 

Enhanced  value  of  raw  crop  at  J  cts. 
advance  

Perishable  foodstuffs  now  annually 
paid  for  by  operatives,  formerly 
unsaleable  (estimated)  .... 

Expenditures  by  State  government  to 
foster  or  promote  this  particular 
industry 


$15,000,000 
45,000,000 

90,000,000 

625,000 


2,000,000 


0,000,000 


BUILDER  OF  TEXTILE  SCHOOLS  203 

Superintendent  of  North  Carolina  mills 

born  and  trained  in  other  states 

(estimated) 100 

Average  salary  (estimated) .       .      .      .  $1,500 

"Time  to  build  a  school  and  put  it  in  operation,  six 
months  to  one  year. 

"Some  of  these  figures  were  kindly  given  me  by 
the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics;  most  of  them  are 
estimates  or  taken  from  memory. 


TEXTILE   SCHOOL 

Cost  of  building $10,000 

Cost  of  machinery,  equipment        .      .  15,000 

Cost  of  operating  each  year.     .      .      .  5,000 

Organization: 

One  Professor $1,500 

One  Assistant 1,000 

One  Assistant 600 

Other  Expenses $2,600—6,000 

"Regular  Course  Study — Two  years  for  young 
men;  special  course  for  mill  men.  Could  teach  50 
pupils  in  regular  course  and  50  more  in  special  in- 
struction. Pupils  from  North  Carolina  now  in  North- 
ern schools  for  textiles  (estimated),  50.  Tuition — 
Regular  course,  $60;  special  students,  $5  a  month; 
extra  special  as  may  be  agreed. 

"One  school  to  start  with  in  helping  along  to  put 
value  on  cotton  is  very  little  to  ask  of  the  State.  The 
mill  men  and  operatives  both  want  such  a  school. 
With  astonishing  frequency  I  have  inquiries  from 
bright  and  energetic  young  men  about  where  they 


204  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

can  go  to  learn  the  complete  processes  of  spinning 
and  weaving.  With  astonishing  frequency  mill 
o\\Tiers  are  hunting  men  who  know  enough  to  super- 
intend a  mill,  and  not  finding  them  at  home  have  to 
send  to  New  England  or  Old  England. 

"The  mills,  the  operatives,  and  the  youth  of  the 
State  all  need  this  school,  and  its  provision  by  the 
Legislature  would  be  a  popular  act." 

The  sub-committee  recommended  the  bill;  and  in 
due  time  a  meeting  of  the  full  committee  was  held  for 
public  hearings  and  discussion.  The  state  papers 
of  January  20,  1899,  tell  the  story: 

"The  establishment  of  a  textile  school  was  the 
question  discussed  before  the  House  Committee 
on  Education  yesterday.  Not  only  was  there  a 
full  meeting  of  the  committee,  but  there  were  many 
visitors  present  to  hear  and  take  part  in  the  discus- 
sion, among  them  the  following  prominent  mill 
men: 

"William  Entwistle,  John  Gilligan,  Dr.  J.  H. 
McAden,  George  E.  Wilson,  Dr.  George  A.  Mebane, 
JuHan  S.  Carr,  R.  S.  Rhinehart,  R.  J.  Brevard,  C.  T. 
Holt,  E.  L.  Mooring,  Donald  McRae,  W.  H.  William- 
son. 

"The  bill  immediately  under  consideration  was  that 
introduced  last  week  by  Mr.  Clarkson,  of  Mecklen- 
burg, for  the  establishment  of  the  Vance  Textile 
School.  Though  Mr.  Clarkson  was  present  and 
briefly  explained  the  bill,  the  discussion  that  followed 
was  upon  the  general  subject  of  textile  schools  and 
the  need  for  one  in  North  Carolina  rather  than  upon 
the  particular  provisions  contained  in  the  bill  before 
the  committee." 

A  large  delegation  from  Charlotte  was  seeking  to 


BUILDER  OF  TEXTILE  SCHOOLS  205 

secure  the  school  for  that  city  as  the  centre  of  the 
cotton-milling  industry   in    the    two    Carolinas.     A 
delegation  from  Raleigh  urged  the  establishment  of 
the  school  as  a  department  of  the  State  College  of 
Agriculture   and   Mechanic   Arts,   located   in   West 
Raleigh.     Speeches  were  made  by  Mr.  George  E. 
Wilson,  president  of  the  Victor  Cotton  Mills,  Meck- 
lenburg County;  by  Maj.  E.  J.  Hale,  editor  of  the 
Fayetteville  Observer,  formerly  United  States  Consul 
to    Manchester,    England,    who    "talked    most    in- 
terestingly of  the  textile  schools  in  that  great  cotton- 
manufacturing  centre";  by  Mr.  William  Entwistle, 
superintendent  of  two  of  Rockingham's  eight  cotton- 
mills,  "who  came  to  this  country  from  Lancashire, 
England,  twenty-seven  years  ago  as  a  mill  worker"; 
by  Prof.  J.  A.  Holmes,  State  Geologist;  by  Mr.  W.  U. 
Hall,  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics;  by  Mr.  W. 
S.  Primrose,  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the 
State  College  of  Agriculture   and  Mechanic  Arts; 
by  Mr.  Richard  H.  Battle,  and  others.     One  of  the 
most  forcible   speeches   was   made  by   Mr.    W.   J. 
Peele,  chairman  of  a  Committee  of  the  Watauga 
Club,*  who  read  a  memorial  of  the  club  asking  that 
the  Textile  School  be  established  as  a  department  of 
the  State  College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts. 
"Wherever  estabUshed,"  said  he,  "it  ought  to  be  in 
close  touch  with  the  mills  and  the  mill  men.     They 
ought  to  be  the  directors  of  the  institution,  and  all 
parts  of  the  State  ought  to  be  represented." 

The  best  of  all  the  speeches  was  that  of  D.  A. 
Tompkins,  who  was  introduced  as  one  of  the  main- 
springs   in    the    cotton    mill    movement    in    North 


•The  Watauga  Club  was  an  organization  of  progressive  and  public-spirited  young  men 
seeking  to  promote  the  industrial  and  educational  advancement  of  the  State.  This  club, 
under  the  leadership  of  W.  J.  Peele  and  Walter  H.  Page,  had  been  a  potent  factor  m 
securing  the  establishment  of  the  North  Carolina  College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts, 


206  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

Carolina,  and  known  all  over  the  South.  Mr. 
Tompkins'  talk  was  intensely  practical.  He  de- 
clared that  there  was  a  great  need  of  specialists — 
highly  trained  specialists — and  that  no  money  could 
be  better  spent  than  in  training  specialists  to  take 
charge  of  North  Carolina's  greatest  manufacturing 
interest,  the  cotton  mills.  "Every  dollar  this  Legis- 
lature, or  others,  may  spend  on  textile  schools  will  be 
returned  a  thousandfold.  The  question  is  not — 
*Can  we  afford  to  build  the  school .^'^but,  'Can  we 
afford  not  to  build  it? '  If  we  do  not  train  our  young 
men  and  our  young  women,  foreigners — by  which  is 
meant  persons  from  other  states — will  get  the  posi- 
tions and  salaries  and  in  many  cases  will  eventually 
own  the  mills. 

"North  Carolina  was  a  manufacturing  state  75 
years  ago.  In  1810  its  people  knew  many  times  more 
about  cotton  and  woolen  manufacture  than  they 
know  now,  because  then  they  made  their  own 
clothes.  They  made  then  many  things  better  than 
they  do  now;  but  the  growth  of  slavery  drove  out 
manufactures.  Now  we  are  coming  to  the  front 
again,  as  we  have  $20,000,000  invested  in  cotton 
mills.  These  mills  add  greatly  to  our  wealth;  they 
raise  the  price  of  cotton  to  our  home  farmers  at  least 
one  fourth  of  a  cent,  and  they  pay  in  wages  an  aver- 
age of  $5  a  week  to  30,000,000  workers  employed  in 
the  mills.  The  mills  consume  about  320,000,000 
bales  of  cotton  yearly.  This  cotton — worth  in  the 
raw  state  5  cents  to  7  cents  a  pound — brings  when 
manufactured  15  cents  to  20  cents. 

"If  the  school  was  started  the  bulk  of  machinery 
needed  for  teaching  would  be  given  by  manufac- 
turers. The  textile  school  in  South  Carolina  cost 
about  $30,000,  of  which  $15,000  was  given  by  the 


BUILDER  OF  TEXTILE  SCHOOLS  207 

State.  There  is  going  to  be  a  textile  school  in 
North  Carolina.  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  al- 
ready have  schools;  Alabama  and  Mississippi  are 
considering  the  matter.  In  less  than  ten  years  we 
will  have  $500,000  invested  in  a  textile  school.  Our 
own  children  will  make  us  do  it." 

Although  the  committee  reported  the  bill  favor- 
ably, a  deficit  in  the  state  treasury,  a  financial  panic, 
and  a  low  price  for  cotton  made  its  defeat  inevitable 
before  a  timid  Legislature. 

But  the  prediction  of  Tompkins  was  fulfilled  two 
years  later  when  the  next  Legislature,  yielding  to 
strong  popular  demand,  provided  for  a  textile 
department  of  the  State  College  of  Agriculture  and 
Mechanic  Arts.  Tompkins  was  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  the  college;  and,  at  their 
request,  he  drew  the  plans  for  the  textile  building  and 
supervised  its  construction.  He  would  not  accept 
compensation  for  his  indispensable  services.  His 
wise  counsel  and  active  cooperation  in  obtaining  a 
competent  director  and  faculty  for  the  school,  in 
securing  donations  of  textile  machinery,  in  arranging 
the  courses  of  instruction,  and  in  making  known  the 
advantages  of  the  school  to  the  North  Carolina 
public,  were  beyond  estimate  in  promoting  its  suc- 
cess. It  started  off  with  power  and  efficiency;  and 
its  subsequent  career  has  been  a  fulfilment  of  its 
great  mission.  For  this  achievement  Tompkins  was 
chiefly  responsible;  he  was  its  promoter,  its  builder, 
its  organizer,  and  from  its  beginning  until  his  death 
its  chief  friend  and  counsellor. 

The  next  work  of  Tompkins  and  one  of  his  finest 
achievements  was  the  establishment  of  the 
Mississippi  Textile  School.  This  he  accomplished 
by  a  single  speech.     Public  sentiment  in  Mississippi 


208  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

was  favorable  to  a  textile  school.  The  speeches  and 
writings  of  Tompkins  and  other  industrial  leaders  had 
prepared  the  ground;  and  the  existence  of  similar 
schools  in  North  and  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  had 
aroused  in  ^lississippi  a  feeling  of  generous  rivalry. 

But  public  sentiment  was  not  unanimous,  and  the 
establishment  of  the  school  by  no  means  assured. 
The  Legislature  met;  and  a  bill  was  promptly  in- 
troduced to  establish  a  textile  school  as  a  department 
of  the  State  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College. 

At  this  critical  moment  Tompkins  arrived  in 
Jackson,  in  response  to  private  telegrams,  and  was 
greeted  by  an  invitation  from  the  Legislature  to 
address  them  on  the  advantages  of  textile  schools. 
The  two  houses  met  in  joint  session;  and  after  hear- 
ing a  powerful,  convincing,  and  inspiring  speech  from 
Tompkins,  passed  the  bill  without  discussion.  Of 
this  speech  the  New  Orleans  Picayune  said:  "The 
speech  delivered  by  Mr.  Tompkins  came  in  the 
nick  of  time,  removing  all  doubt  among  certain 
members  as  to  the  wisdom  of  such  an  appropriation. 
This  is  the  greatest  work  that  this  Legislature  has 
done.  It  serves  notice  on  the  world  that  Mississippi 
is  going  to  be  in  a  position  not  only  to  foster  cotton 
mills  but  that  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  State  are 
to  reap  the  salaries  that  in  the  absence  of  textile 
education  must  inevitablj^  go  to  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  other  states  who  would  come  to 
Mississippi  equipped  to  earn  such  salaries  and  to 
officer  the  mills — building,  and  to  be  built." 

The  trustees  of  the  college  engaged  Tompkins  to 
design  the  plant,  organize  the  equipment  of 
machinery,  and  formulate  the  courses  of  study  and 
training  for  the  new  textile  school.  This  duty  he 
performed  with  his  accustomed  skill,  efficiency,  and 


BUILDER  OF  TEXTILE  SCHOOLS  209 

unselfish  patriotism,  refusing  compensation  for  his 
services. 

By  invitation  of  the  Legislature  of  Texas  Tomp- 
kins discussed  before  a  joint  session  of  that  body  the 
subject  of  textile  schools;  and,  subsequently,  follow- 
ing the  example  of  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina, 
and  Mississippi,  the  State  of  Texas  established  a 
textile  school  as  a  department  of  its  Agricultural  and 
Mechanical  College. 

A  similar  discussion  was  made  by  Tompkins  before 
the  Legislature  of  Louisiana,  at  the  close  of  which  the 
following  resolution  was  adopted: 

"Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa- 
tives in  joint  session  assembled.  That  the  earnest 
thanks  of  these  bodies  be  tendered  the  Hon.  D.  A. 
Tompkins,  of  North  Carolina,  for  his  able,  instruc- 
tive, and  patriotic  address  and  effort  to  lift  the  South 
from  the  slough  of  industrial  depression,  and  to  light 
it  back  to  that  high  plane  of  prosperity  in  which 
it  stood  in  ante-bellum  days." 

Tompkins'  speech  before  the  Mississippi  Legisla- 
ture was  as  follows: 

"the  importance  of  textile  education  and 
textile  schools  in  the  south 

"Since  the  foundation  of  the  republic  three 
generations  have  lived  and  passed  away.  In  the 
first  third  of  the  century,  dating  from  the  War  of 
Independence,  the  South  led  in  education,  in  manu- 
factures, in  commerce,  and  in  wealth.  In  the  second 
third  of  the  century  the  South  still  led  in  education 
and  in  wealth,  but  the  institution  of  slavery  had 
stifled  our  manufactures  and  seriously  impeded  the 
progress    of    our    commerce    and    brought    on    the 


210  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

Civil  War,  which  ended  with  the  abolition  of  the 
institution. 

*'  In  the  last  third  of  a  century  the  South  has  been 
carrying  on  another  war,  a  war  of  more  than  thirty 
years  for  white  supremacy.  The  Civil  War,  from 
'60  to  '65,  demonstrated  the  tremendous  force  of 
character  and  courage  of  the  people  of  the  South. 
The  thirty  years'  war  for  white  supremacy  and  Anglo- 
Saxon  civilization  demonstrated  that  the  sons  of 
those  who  had  been  charged  with  being  impetuous 
fire-eaters  could  be  infinitely  patient,  judicial  minded, 
and  firm  as  a  rock  in  standing  for  a  principle  involving 
Christian  civilization. 

"When  slavery  existed,  the  manufactures  estab- 
lished by  our  grandfathers  were  dried  up.  When 
slavery  was  abolished,  it  was  impossible  to  reestab- 
lish manufactures  pending  the  restoration  of  law  and 
order. 

''Promptly  on  the  restoration  of  governments 
capable  of  guaranteeing  security  manufactures  began 
at  once  to  grow. 

"Our  grandfathers  were  a  great  people.  So  also 
were  our  fathers.  But  the  greatest  generation  of 
Southern  people  is  the  one  that  since  the  Civil  War 
has  at  all  times  trained  one  hand  to  arms  for  the 
defence  of  Southern  homes,  while  the  other  has  been 
kept  trained  to  those  occupations  that  would  make  a 
living  for  those  living  in  the  homes.  Speaking  in 
round  numbers,  I  give  the  following  record: 

"In  the  first  decade  after  the  Civil  War  we  made 
2,500,000  bales  of  cotton  at  twenty-four  cents, 
$300,000,000.  In  the  second  decade  we  made 
5,000,000  bales  of  cotton  at  twelve  cents, 
$300,000,000.  In  the  third  decade  we  made  10,000,- 
000  bales  of  cotton  at  six  cents,  $300,000,000. 


BUILDER  OF  TEXTILE  SCHOOLS  211 

"This  is  a  wonderful  record  and  a  discouraging 
record.  Four  times  the  cotton  and  exactly  the  same 
money. 

"  Meantime,  India  and  Egypt  are  now  making  more 
cotton  than  we  made  twenty  years  ago.  The  tread- 
ing upon  our  heels  by  those  countries,  with  larger 
quantities  of  cotton  at  lowering  prices,  makes  it 
clear  that  there  can  be  no  remedy  in  curtailment  of 
production  to  increase  price.  Any  curtailment  of 
our  production  means  that  the  people  of  other  coun- 
tries will  make  more  cotton.  If  we  would  continue 
to  control  the  production,  we  must  make  large 
quantities  at  cheap  prices. 

"This  monopoly  has  been  so  far  preserved  by  wise 
legislation  of  the  various  Southern  States.  It  has 
been  done  by  establishment  of  agricultural  colleges, 
departments  of  agriculture,  boards  of  fertilizer 
control,  and  other  liberal  and  advantageous  meas- 
ures. 

"With  the  highest  opinion  of  the  value  and  the 
necessity  for  all  these  measures,  I  want  to  show  you 
that  there  is  another  end  to  this  problem  on  which 
we  can  work  to  advantage.  We  can  continue  the 
control  of  the  production  of  cotton  by  its  manu- 
facture. 

"The  fortunes  of  the  cotton  farmer  and  planter 
can  best  be  revived  by  the  manufacture  of  cotton. 
It  is  a  great  thing  to  have  developed  the  production 
of  cotton  to  the  extent  of  10,000,000  bales.  This 
alone  is  sufficient  to  mark  the  people  of  the  South 
to  be  of  great  capabilities  and  resources.  Other 
countries  have  the  land,  the  climate,  and  the  people, 
but  none  have  developed  the  business  to  any  com- 
mercial proportions,  except  on  lines  you  have  laid 
out.     But  you  have  reduced  the  production  to  such 


212  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

perfection  that  while  still  further  improvement  is 
possible,  an  improvement  of  one  cent  a  pound  in 
reduction  of  cost  of  production  would  mean  only 
$50,000,000  saving  on  the  entire  crop. 

"If,  however,  we  manufacture  the  whole  crop  into 
the  simplest,  plain  white  cloth  we  change  its  value 
from  $300,000,000  to  $1,000,000,000.  Here  is  a 
profit  to  the  South  of  $700,000,000,  or  more  than  two 
hundred  per  cent.  Of  course,  this  is  not  profit  to  the 
stockholder,  but  if  our  home  people  do  the  work,  and 
Southern  fuel  and  other  supplies  are  used,  the  whole 
increased  sum  must  be  profit  to  the  South.  Much  of 
it  goes  to  labor  now  unemployed  or  unprofitably 
employed. 

"To  make  a  simpler  proposition,  let  us  take 
10,000  bales  as  the  production  of  an  average  county. 
These  at  six  cents  (average  price  the  last  few  years) 
would  yield  $300,000.  Now  let  this  cotton  be 
manufactured  into  plain,  white  sheetings,  which  sell 
at  five  cents  a  yard,  and  the  product  is  worth 
$1,000,000.  xVssume  that  this  is  done  with  home 
people  (and  in  North  Carolina  it  is),  is  done  with 
home  fuel  (and  it  can  be),  and  practically  the  whole 
increased  sum  becomes  profit  to  the  county.  In 
other  words,  a  county  which  sells  its  10,000  bales  of 
raw  cotton  gets  for  it,  from  England  or  Germany, 
$300,000,  while,  manufactured  at  home,  the  county 
gets  the  following: 

Farmers,  for  foodstuffs $250,000 

Merchants    and    bankers,    for    groceries, 

clothing,  discounts,  interest,  etc.        .  150,000 

Stockholders'  profits 100,000 

Farmers,  for  wood  and  miscellaneous  ser- 
vices and  supplies 50,000 


BUILDER  OF  TEXTILE  SCHOOLS  213 

Lawyers,  doctors,  preachers,  and  teachers  .  $50,000 

Savings  of  operatives  out  of  wages,  etc.    .  25,000 
Improved    roads,    public   buildings,    and 

other  public  improvements       .      .      .  25,000 

Wasted  by  operatives 25,000 

Miscellaneous 25,000 

"It  will  be  seen  that  out  of  this  extra  return  the 
farmer  gets  an  extra  $300,000,  or  just  as  much  money 
as  he  got  for  his  raw  cotton.  He  would  get  this  for 
his  perishable  products,  which  now  practically  have 
no  markets.  These  would  be  meat,  meal,  flour, 
chickens,  eggs,  butter,  milk,  potatoes,  onions, 
cabbage,  turnips,  peaches,  apples — in  truth,  for 
everything  that  grows  on  a  farm. 

"By  means  of  the  factory  and  the  demands  it 
makes  upon  the  farm  the  land  is  vastly  increased  in 
value.  It  transpires  that  wherever  cotton  is  tripled 
in  value  by  manufacture,  then  the  adjacent  farms  are 
also  tripled  in  value. 

"It  is  by  this  means  we  can  continue  to  control  the 
production  of  cotton.  Double  the  farmer's  income 
on  a  fixed  production  of  cotton  and  he  can  continue 
to  produce  the  cotton  for  the  world  and  undersell  the 
Egyptian. 

"The  development  of  the  South  requires  manu- 
factures. The  interests  of  the  cotton  farmer  require, 
above  all  things,  that  his  cotton  be  manufactured  at 
home  to  give  him  home  markets  for  all  his  other  farm 
products. 

"The  development  of  manufactures  requires, 
first  of  all,  education  and  transportation.  England 
and  Germany  send  ships  here  for  our  cotton  at  an 
average  price  of  six  cents  a  pound.  Those  countries 
manufacture  it,  and  re-sell  the  products  to  South 


214  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

America,  South  Africa,  China,  and  other  countries  at 
twenty  cents  a  pound  and  upward  to  unbelievable 
prices  per  pound.  It  stands  to  reason  they  won't  be 
willing  to  furnish  subsidized  ships  and  handle  our 
cloth  to  the  injury  of  their  own  trade. 

"We  have  the  best  domestic  transportation 
facilities  in  the  world  in  our  railroads.  Wealth  and 
education  considered,  we  have  the  worst  ocean  trans- 
portation in  the  world.  Our  domestic  markets  are 
the  best  developed  and  most  valuable  in  the  world. 

"If  we  get  our  ocean  transportation  to  the  same 
degree  of  efficiency  as  our  domestic  facilities,  then  we 
might  safely  extend  the  development  of  cotton 
manufacture  to  cover  the  entire  crop.  We  now 
manufacture  in  the  United  States  about  one  fourth 
the  crop.  This  supplies  our  domestic  market.  We 
have  commenced  the  development  of  some  foreign 
markets  with  success.  If  we  continue  to  develop  our 
manufactures  we  must  continue  to  develop  our 
ocean  transportation  facilities  to  put  us  in  position  to 
sell  our  goods  economically  and  profitably  in  foreign 
countries.  If  we  do  this  we  can  manufacture  the 
whole  of  our  cotton  into  cloth,  if  we  know  enough 
about  the  processes  of  manufacture  to  turn  the 
cotton  into  marketable  shapes.  This  means  tech- 
nical, and  especially  textile,  education. 

"I  urgently  advise  that  you  make  a  liberal  ap- 
propriation to  establish  a  textile  department  at  your 
Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College.  It  should  be 
open  to  both  sexes.  Your  grandmothers  spun  and 
wove,  and  there  is  no  reason  for  excluding  your 
daughters  from  the  use  of  any  facilities  to  learn  to 
spin  and  weave  now. 

"The  presidents  were  formally  selected  from  the 
South,  not  by  accident,  but  because  they  were  the 


BUILDER  OF  TEXTILE  SCHOOLS  215 

best  educated  people  of  the  Union.  Also  because 
they  had  great  interests  developed,  and  great  in- 
terests require  and  develop  great  statesmen  as  great 
wars  require  and  develop  great  generals. 

''To  develop  here  a  great  industry  and  great 
interests  cotton  is  your  best  basis.  You  must  have 
schools  to  teach  the  science  and  art  of  cotton  manu- 
facture. 

"The  best  contentment  in  life  comes  from  having 
learned  to  do  some  profitable  thing  better  than  any- 
body else  can  do  it.  To  accomplish  this,  study  and 
practice  are  necessary.  It  is  as  easy  to  learn  all 
about  a  loom  as  it  is  to  learn  all  about  football.  It 
requires  as  much  practice  to  become  a  superior 
weaver  as  it  does  to  become  a  superior  football 
player. 

"The  management  of  a  spinning  frame  and  the 
making  of  yarn  is  not  near  so  difficult  as  the  manage- 
ment of  a  sewing  machine  and  the  making  of  clothes. 
In  every  household  it  is  well  understood  that  a  careful 
study  of  the  principles  of  a  sewing  machine  and  a  lot 
of  practice  are  necessary  to  the  making  of  a  satis- 
factory operator  on  a  machine.  It  is  better  for 
a  girl  to  go  to  some  normal  school  or  female  college, 
but  it  is  not  necessary.  Some  of  the  very  best 
housewives  never  go  to  college  at  all.  They  acquire 
superior  capabilities  by  careful  observation  and 
continued  practice.  As  it  is  in  the  household  so  it  is 
in  a  factory.  The  average  girl  knows  that  if  she 
would  keep  a  good  house,  she  must  study  and  practice. 
Perhaps  her  mother  is  her  only  teacher,  and  she  may 
have  no  opportunity  to  practice  except  at  home. 

"The  boy  who  expects  to  manufacture  cotton 
should  learn  the  principles  involved  in  each  machine 
in  the  mill  and  acquire  the  necessary  skill  to  operate 


216  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

it,  just  as  his  sister  learns  the  sewing  machine  and 
cooking  utensils  at  home,  and  acquires  skill  in  the 
handling  of  them. 

"In  modem  education  far  too  little  stress  is  laid  on 
practice,  where  the  future  occupation  is  to  be  in- 
dustrial. Manufacturing,  housekeeping,  music,  and 
painting  are  all  sciences  and  arts.  The  schools  may 
teach  the  sciences  involved,  and  to  a  limited  extent 
the  arts.  Take  music,  for  instance.  It  may  be 
taught  at  school,  and  to  a  limited  extent  practised  at 
school,  but  to  be  a  successful  musician  means  long 
and  arduous  practice  after  the  schooldays.  In 
music  the  teachers  all  emphasize  the  futility  of  ex- 
pecting success  in  music  without  this  arduous 
practice  subsequent  to  the  schooldays.  But  many 
of  the  technical  schools  let  the  idea  grow  amongst  the 
students  that  the  college  course  alone  will  fit  them  to 
manufacture  cloth  or  make  yarns.  For  the  best 
work  the  school  is  essential  in  manufactures  as  in 
music.  But  also  for  the  best  work  practice  is  as 
essential  in  manufactures  as  in  music.  The  best 
music  draws  the  biggest  crowd  to  the  concert. 
Every  musician  will  say  that,  as  a  rule,  the  best 
music  means  the  most  practice.  The  best  cloth  will 
have  the  preference  in  every  store.  The  best  cloth 
means  the  most  skill,  which  in  turn  again  means  the 
most  arduous  practice.  So  it  is  in  housekeeping,  so 
in  painting,  and  in  other  callings.  Genius  is  mostly 
application. 

"Of  two  boys,  one  having  a  fine  technical  educa- 
tion with  a  little  practice,  the  other  having  only  a 
common  school  education,  and  having  served  a  full 
apprenticeship,  the  chances  for  success  are  four  to  one 
in  favor  of  the  latter.  Put  the  technical  education 
and   the   apprenticeship   together,    and   the    young 


BUILDER  OF  TEXTILE  SCHOOLS  217 

man  having  both  is  at  once  a  master  of  his  occupa- 
tion. 

"The  latter  is  the  way  it  was  with  the  planter's 
son  before  the  war.  From  the  day  of  his  birth  till  he 
went  to  college  he  was  serving  an  apprenticeship  on  a 
plantation.  He  didn't  realize  it,  but  he  did  serve  the 
apprenticeship.  He  rode  the  mules,  drove  the 
horses,  helped  feed  the  hogs,  was  in  close  touch  with 
the  negroes.  At  twenty-one  years  of  age,  with  or 
without  a  college  education,  he  could  run  a  planta- 
tion, and  do  it  well.  Nine  times  out  of  ten  he  was 
successful  in  life. 

"The  youth  of  to-day  needs  the  same  sort  of 
education  to  fit  him  for  modern  conditions.  The 
youth  of  to-day  ought  to  understand  a  loom  as  well 
as  his  grandfather  did  a  mule.  He  ought  to  know 
every  phase  of  cotton  manufacture  as  well  as  his 
grandfather  knew  every  phase  of  its  production. 
Practice  in  the  different  operations  is  the  way  to  get 
the  skill. 

"In  thus  exhibiting  the  importance  of  practical 
training  with  this  technical  textile  education  I  am 
urging  upon  you,  I  do  so  to  show  that  the  higher 
education  in  this  line  will  open  up  the  way  for  prac- 
tical and  profitable  occupation  for  every  boy  and 
girl  now  unoccupied,  even  though  they  do  not  have 
opportunity  to  go  to  the  technical  school.  Let  the 
higher  school  open  up  the  way  with  its  higher  teach- 
ing and  training,  and  this  opens  up  the  way  for 
profitable  occupation  and  opportunity  for  every 
farmer's  son  or  daughter  in  the  State,  and  for  all 
other  people  who  need  an  opportunity  to  get  a  start 
in  life.  I  am  a  machinist  by  trade,  and  made  my 
start  in  life  as  a  machinist.  The  chance  that  spin- 
ning and  weaving  offers  for  a  start  in  life,  though 


«18  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

lowly  in  the  beginning,  has  before  it  unlimited  op- 
portunity for  wealth  and  honor.  Some  of  the 
most  distinguished  men  of  the  world  have  often 
started  some  narrative  by  saying,  *When  I  was  a 
weaver!"* 

It  may  truly  be  said  of  Tompkins  that  he  was  the 
chief  promoter  and  builder  of  Southern  textile 
schools,  as  he  had  been  of  cotton  mills  and  cotton  oil 
mills.  With  him  schools  and  mills  were  both  essen- 
tial parts  of  a  great  industrial  system. 

"We  have  reached  the  limit,"  said  he,  "of  what 
may  be  done  with  picked-up  knowledge  and  ignorant 
labor.  The  remedy  is  schools  for  textile  instruction. 
They  will  multiply  mills,  enhance  the  value  of  mill 
products,  and  create  home  markets  for  perishable 
farm  produce.  Cotton  mills  and  textile  schools  to- 
gether make  the  remedy  for  the  depressed  condi- 
tion of  farming  in  the  South." 


CHAPTER  XIII 

AUTHOR    OF   BOOKS    ON    COTTON    INDUSTRIES 

THE  culmination  of  Tompkins'  career  as  a 
missionary  of  cotton  was  his  authorship  of 
books  on  cotton  industries.  These  books 
were  the  products  of  his  experience,  and  dealt  with 
actual  mill  problems  in  the  Southern  States.  They 
are  intended  for  books  of  instruction  in  textile 
schools  and  for  the  guidance  of  mill  owners,  mill 
builders,  and  mill  workers.  Although  sufficiently 
technical,  they  are  interesting  to  the  general  reader, 
as  they  furnish  a  picture  of  the  Old  South  growing 
into  the  new. 

His  first  book  was  entitled,  "  Cotton  Mill  Processes 
and  Calculations,  an  elementary  textbook  for  the 
use  of  textile  schools  and  for  home  study,  with  ap- 
pendix containing  tables,  rules,  and  recipes.  300 
pages,    50   original   drawings." 

In  the  preface  the  author  states  the  plan  and 
purpose  of  the  book,  and  sums  up  for  cotton  mill 
apprentices  the  philosophy  of  success: 

"It  has  been  attempted  in  this  volume  to  give  a 
description  of  the  machines,  and  exhibit  their 
various  functions;  also  to  give  rules  and  formulas  for 
making  the  calculations,  in  such  a  simple  way  that 
they  may  be  followed  out  by  any  person  of  ordinary 
intelligence,  and  with  only  a  limited  common  school 
education. 

"To  the  student  and  apprentice,  for  whom  this 

219 


220  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

book  is  intended,  it  might  not  be  amiss  to  say  that 
skill  in  operating  machines  and  in  keeping  a  manu- 
facturing process  well  balanced  throughout  cannot 
be  acquired  by  reading  any  book.  Both  knowledge 
and  skill  are  necessary  in  the  production  of  good 
music.  So,  in  the  manufacture  of  cotton,  knowledge 
and  skill  are  equally  necessary  to  get  the  best  results. 
The  best  success  will  not  come  to  the  young  man  who 
acquires  the  fullest  knowledge  and  omits  the  practice 
necessary  to  make  him  skilful.  Neither  w^ill  it  come 
to  the  one  who  works  longest  and  hardest,  and  never 
studies.  But  rather  to  the  one  who  with  discretion 
and  energy  devotes  reasonable  time  to  the  acquisition 
of  both  knowledge  and  skill." 

The  first  edition  was  quickly  exhausted,  being 
widely  used  in  mills  and  textile  schools,  as  well  as  in 
demand  by  general  readers  and  students  of  the 
industrial  South.  Its  commendation  by  the  press 
was  equally  gratifying.  "One  of  the  best  books  ever 
published  in  the  South,"  said  the  Raleigh  News  and 
Observer,  "is 'Cotton  Mill  Processes  and  Calculations,' 
by  Mr.  D.  A.  Tompkins,  the  practical  and  wise 
manufacturer  of  Charlotte.  This  book  may  be 
said  to  mark  a  mile-post  in  the  industrial  history  of 
North  CaroHna.  The  State  has  passed  out  of  the 
experiment  of  manufacturing  raw  cotton  into  yarn; 
it  will  henceforth  teach  the  youths  of  this  and  other 
states.  Yesterday  it  sat  in  the  schoolroom,  near  the 
foot  of  the  class,  doubtful  if  it  could  be  a  great 
manufacturing  state;  to-day  it  is  a  teacher,  with 
pupils  thronging  its  industrial  academies  desiring  to 
learn  the  problem  of  converting  raw  cotton  profitably 
into  finished  products.  In  the  industrial  progress  of 
the  State  Mr.  Tompkins  has  been  a  helpful  and 
inspiring  factor.     His  book  will  be  invaluable,  and 


AUTHOR  OF  BOOKS  ON  COTTON  221 

the  fact  that  there  is  a  demand  for  it  shows  that  we  go 
forward." 

"Cotton  Mill  Processes  and  Calculations,"  said 
the  Norfolk  Landmark,  "is  in  every  respect  a  notable 
work.  It  is  the  first  book  written  and  published  in 
the  South  on  the  important  subject  of  cotton  manu- 
facturing. Mr.  Tompkins  is  intensely  practical. 
What  he  has  to  say  is  not  based  upon  mere  theoretical 
knowledge  but  also  upon  actual  and  extensive  ex- 
perience. No  man  is  better  qualified  to  utilize 
experience,  and  profit  by  its  lessons,  than  is  Mr. 
Tompkins.  To  the  youthful  student  and  the 
apprentice,  especially,  Mr.  Tompkins  addresses 
himself,  desiring  to  impress  upon  the  young  workman 
of  intelligence  and  ambition  the  great  truth  that 
success  comes  not  to  mere  skill  of  the  hand  and  eye, 
nor  to  mere  theoretical  knowledge,  but  to  a  judicious 
combination  of  manual  skill  and  technical  knowl- 
edge. The  whole  wisdom  of  active  life  is  here 
condensed  by  Mr.  Tompkins  into  the  compass  of  a 
few  words." 

His  next  book  was  entitled:  "Cotton  Mill 
Commercial  Features,  a  textbook  for  the  use  of 
textile  schools  and  investors,  w^ith  tables  showing 
cost  of  machinery  and  equipments  for  mills  making 
cotton  yarns  and  plain  cotton  cloths." 

"This  is  the  author's  second  volume  of  a  series  on 
cotton  mill  subjects,"  said  the  Manufacturers^ 
Record,  "The  first  volume  treated  of  the  interior 
detail  of  cotton  mill  machinery  and  its  management. 
The  present  volume  is  devoted  to  the  commercial 
and  financial  aspects  of  the  business.  It  is  a  book 
which  the  business  man  can  read  with  pleasure.  It 
is  not  encumbered  with  technicalities  which  usually 
load  down  books  treating  of  special  industries.     It 


223  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

is  a  straightforward  and  easy  discussion  of  the  busi- 
ness principles  underlying  the  organization  of  a  new 
company  for  cotton  manufacture,  the  building  of  the 
plant,  keeping  the  accounts,  and  disposing  of  the 
product.  The  author  is  a  Southern  man  intensely 
interested  (financially  and  sentimentally)  in  Southern 
institutions,  but  he  takes  pains  to  show  in  every  case 
that  the  true  road  to  advancement  in  cotton  manu- 
facturing lies  in  the  harmonious  cooperation  with 
Northern  and  Eastern  mills  for  the  acquisition  of  the 
world's  markets." 

"A  valuable  feature  of  this  book,"  said  the  New 
Orleans  Picayune,  "is  its  presentation  of  the  theory 
that  more  wealth  accrues  from  the  sale  of  the  manu- 
factured article  than  of  the  raw  material.  The 
author  directs  attention  to  the  great  increase  of 
cotton  manufacturing  in  the  cotton  states.  He 
adduces  many  striking  facts  to  show  how  the  new 
enterprises  have  worked  for  the  general  prosperity  of 
the  South.  In  a  suggestive  chapter  on  textile 
education  Mr.  Tompkins  deals  with  the  movement 
on  behalf  of  technical  training  which  has  lately 
sprung  up  in  the  Southern  States.  He  explains  at 
some  length  exactly  what  ought  to  be  taught  in 
textile  schools.  Another  chapter  is  devoted  to  the 
new  conditions  of  labor  which  have  sprung  up  as  a 
result  of  the  evolution  of  the  negro.  Mr.  Tompkins 
even  goes  so  far  in  this  subject  as  to  present  plans 
for  cheap  but  comfortable  houses  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  the  laboring  class.  This  work  is  unique  as 
well  as  comprehensive.  Mr.  Tompkins  has  rendered 
a  great  service  to  the  South  in  compiling  it.  The 
book  is  copiously  illustrated,  the  plans  of  machinery 
and  mill  construction  being  a  particularly  valuable 
feature." 


AUTHOR  OF  BOOKS  ON  COTTON  223 

His  next  book  was  entitled:  "Cotton  Values  in 
Textile  Fabrics,  A  Collection  of  Cloth  Samples, 
iVrranged  to  Show  the  Value  of  Cotton,  when  Con- 
verted Into  Various  Kinds  of  Cloth." 

The  purpose  and  character  of  this  book  are  set 
forth  in  the  preface,  which  says: 

"This  collection  of  samples  of  cotton  goods  with 
data  on  costs  per  j^ard  and  per  pound  was  prepared 
to  show  the  possibilities  that  lie  in  our  cotton  crop. 
Opposite  each  sample  is  shown  the  value  of  a  good 
North  Carolina  crop,  500,000  bales,  reckoned  as  raw 
material,  and  sold  at  a  normal  average  price  of  six 
cents  per  pound  or  thirty  dollars  per  bale.  Con- 
trasted with  this  valuation  is  shown  what  the  same 
half  million  bales  would  bring  if  manufactured  into 
goods  like  the  samples,  at  normal  average  prices. 

"The  cheapest  sample  showTi  is  duck,  worth  four- 
teen cents  per  pound.  Half  a  million  bales  of 
cotton  in  this  shape  would  bring  thirty-five  million 
dollars,  or  nearly  two  and  a  half  times  its  value  in  the 
raw  state.  The  whole  crop  of  the  country,  say 
eleven  million  bales,  if  manufactured  into  this  goods 
and  sold  at  this  price,  would  show  a  gain  over  the 
raw  price  of  more  than  four  hundred  million  dollars, 
or  more  than  five  dollars  per  capita  for  all  the  people 
of  the  Continental  United  States. 

"To  manufacture  the  entire  cotton  crop  into  duck 
would  be  a  misfortune,  somewhat  akin  to  selling  the 
entire  crop  in  its  raw  state.  But  cotton  may  be  made 
into  numerous  other  forms  to  produce  even  greater 
values,  as  is  shown  by  the  succeeding  samples,  the 
last  of  which  shows  that  if  the  North  Carolina  crop 
could  be  converted  into  Swiss  embroidery  and  sold 
at  twenty  dollars  per  pound,  it  would  bring  five 
billion  dollars.     This  is  about  equal  to  all  the  money 


224  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

received  for  all  the  raw  cotton  grown  in  the  United 
States  in  the  past  twenty  years.  It  is  more  than 
enough  to  buy  all  the  cotton  and  woolen  mills  in  the 
world ! 

"To  manufacture  the  entire  crop  of  the  country 
into  embroidery  would  be  as  undesirable  as  to  turn  it 
all  into  duck.  These  extreme  figures  are  given  to 
show  the  v/ide  range  of  possibilities  in  the  business. 
They  exhibit  the  relative  gain  in  both  cases  and  not 
the  absolute  result  to  be  attained. 

"All  of  the  samples  shown  are  made  of  cotton;  but 
some  of  the  finest  were  not  made  of  the  ordinary 
cotton  of  our  commerce,  and  therefore  it  may  be 
contended  that  the  claim  for  such  princely  values  in 
our  cotton  is  beyond  the  mark.  But  the  goods  were 
made  of  a  kind  of  cotton.  This  cotton  was  grown 
under  certain  conditions.  If  these  conditions  were 
well  understood,  and  the  production  of  cotton  carried 
on  with  sufficient  skill,  these  fine  grades  of  cotton 
could  be  raised  over  large  areas  now  devoted  to  the 
ordinary  kind. 

"Therefore  the  argument  resolves  itself  into  a 
question  of  proper  education  and  thrift  to  turn  a 
possible  cotton  crop  into  thousands  of  times  the 
money  now  realized  on  it  by  the  people  who  produce 
it.  In  other  words,  in  undertaking  to  exliibit  the 
values  to  which  cotton  may  be  brought  the  subject 
covers  improvement  of  the  lint  by  the  grower  as  well 
as  improvement  in  spinning  and  weaving  by  the 
manufacturer. 

"Part  of  the  difference  between  the  price  of  raw 
cotton  and  the  retail  prices  affixed  to  the  samples 
shown  is  created  by  the  merchant  and  not  all  by  the 
manufacturer.  But  nevertheless  there  is  a  gain  to 
the  community  by  reason  of  the  goods  having  been 


AUTHOR  OF  BOOKS  ON  COTTON      225 

manufactured  at  home.  The  very  process  of  manu- 
facturing is  conducive  to  greater  volume  of  mer- 
cantile business  from  the  fact  that  many  people  are 
thus  given  employment  who  would  otherwise  be  idle. 
These  people  become  wealth  producers,  and  become 
much  larger  consumers  of  all  commodities  than 
before. 

"The  grower  of  unimproved  raw  cotton  now 
receives  but  a  modicum  of  its  possible  value.  It  is 
hoped  that  this  collection  of  samples,  though  giving 
but  a  minute  suggestion  of  the  infinite  possibilities, 
may  point  the  way  to  greater  returns  for  the  labor 
of  the  people  in  the  cotton-growing  states,  and  lead 
them  to  find  out  the  steps  necessary  to  acquire  the 
skill  for  producing  better  qualities  of  cotton,  and  for 
turning  this  better  cotton  into  goods  of  greater 
value." 

This  little  book  went  like  a  missionary  through  the 
South.     Five  editions  were  called  for  in  five  years. 

It  shows  at  a  glance  the  value,  on  the  one  hand,  of 
finished  products  and  skilled  labor;  on  the  other 
hand,  of  raw  material  and  untrained  muscle. 

VALUE    OF   500,000    BALES  OF  COTTON  PRODUCED  IN 
NORTH    CAROLINA* 

Not  Manufactured: — sold  in  bales 

@  6  cts $  15,000,000 

Manufactured: — into    Duck    @    14 

cts.  per  lb 35,000,000 

Manufactured: — into  Drilling  @  16 

cts 40,000,000 

Manufactured : — into    Sheeting    @ 

18  cts 45,000,000 

•The  prices  given  in  this  table  were  the  market  prices  at  the^me  of  the  publication  of 
the  little  book. 


226  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

Manufactured: — into  Bleaching  @ 

20  cts $  50,000,000 

Manufactured: — into    Tick    @    24 

cts 60,000,000 

Manufactured: — into  Cheviot  @  26 

cts 65,000,000 

Manufactured: — into  Denim  @  30 

cts 75,000,000 

Manufactured : — into  Plain  Ging- 
ham @  34  cts 85,000,000 

Manufactured: — into  Shade   Cloth 

@  34  cts 85,000,000 

Manufactured: — into  Madras  @  40 

cts 100,000,000 

Manufactured : — into  Long  Cloth  @ 

70  cts 175,000,000 

Manufactured : — into     Mercerized 

Cloth  @  $1 250,000,000 

Manufactured : — into        Gingham 

Lawn  @  $1.70 425,000,000 

Manufactured : — into     Poplin      @ 

$1.80 450,000,000 

Manufactured: — into  Fancy  Ging- 
ham @  $2.20 550,000,000 

Manufactured : — into  Persian  Lawn 

@  $4 1,000,000,000 

Manufactured : — into     Embroidery 

@  $20 5,000,000,000 

The  last  and  in  many  respects  the  most  interest- 
ing of  his  books  on  cotton  industries  was  the  follow- 
ing: "Cotton  and  Cotton  Oil: — Cotton  Planting, 
Cultivating,  Harvesting,  and  Preparation  for  market 
— Cottonseed  Oil  Mills  Organization,  Construction, 
and  Operation — Cattle  Feeding,  Production  of  Beef 


AUTHOR  OF  BOOKS  ON  COTTON      227 

and  Dairy  Products,  Cottonseed  Meal  and  Hulls  as 
Stock  Feed — Fertilizer  INIanufacture,  Manipulation, 
and  Uses.  Full  Information  for  Investor,  Student, 
and  Practical  Mechanic." 

Aside  from  its  technical  contents,  "Cotton  and 
Cotton  Oil "  is  full  of  interest.  It  describes  Southern 
industrial  conditions  before,  during,  and  after  the 
Civil  War,  the  old  Southern  plantation,  the  growing 
and  marketing  of  cotton,  the  growth  and  influence  of 
cotton  mills,  the  utilization  of  cottonseed,  and  the 
beginning  of  a  new  agriculture.  It  contains  a  very 
interesting  chapter  intended  to  show  that  the  cotton 
saw  gin  was  invented  by  Hodgin  Holmes,  of  Georgia, 
and  appropriated  afterward  by  Eli  Whitney,  whose 
invention  was  a  roller  set  with  teeth  or  spikes,  but 
lacking  saws. 

The  four  books  forming  this  series  have  been  highly 
praised : 

"The  Editor  of  Cotton  and  Finance,''  says  Theo.  H. 
Price,  "desires  to  make  our  acknowledgments  to 
Mr.  D.  A.  Tompkins  for  some  pictures  of  the  cotton 
boll  in  its  various  stages  of  development  recently 
published  by  Cotton  and  Finance,  They  were  taken 
from  *  Cotton  and  Cotton  Oil,'  one  of  a  series  of 
books  of  which  he  is  the  author.  These  books,  taken 
together,  form  the  most  valuable  and  compact 
reference  library  with  regard  to  the  history  of  cotton 
cultivation  and  manufacturing  of  which  the  writer 
has  any  knowledge." 

"This  series  of  books,"  says  the  Manufacturers' 
Record,  "is  devoted  to  various  aspects  of  the  cotton 
trade — growing  the  crop,  manufacturing  it  into 
different  classes  of  goods,  selling  these  and  finding 
new  markets  abroad  for  increased  sale  and  consump- 
tion.    Each  book  is  an  attempt  to  supply  a  much- 


228  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

felt  need  for  full  information  about  the  cotton 
manufacturing  business.  There  has  been  no  class 
of  literature  like  this  published  in  the  United  States. 
Presented  as  it  is  from  the  American  standpoint,  it  is 
interesting  and  instructive." 

An  addendum  to  the  series  is,  "American  Com- 
merce: Its  Expansion,  a  collection  of  addresses  and 
pamphlets  relating  to  the  extension  of  foreign  mar- 
kets for  American  manufactures." 

Besides  his  books  on  industrial  subjects  Tompkins 
published  "A  History  of  Mecklenburg  County  and 
the  City  of  Charlotte,"  in  two  volumes;  Vol.  1  "con- 
taining the  simple  narrative,"  and  Vol.  2  "In  the 
nature  of  an  appendix,  containing  ample  discussions 
of  important  events,  a  collection  of  biographies  and 
many  official  documents  justifying  and  verifying 
the  statements  in  the  narrative."  Among  interest- 
ing topics  discussed  in  these  volumes  are :  The  Meck- 
lenburg Declaration  of  Independence,  The  Early 
Settlers  in  the  Piedmont  Section,  Education,  Religion, 
Slavery,  Industrial  Life,  the  Revolution,  The  Civil 
War  and  Reconstruction. 

Tompkins  also  published  in  pamphlet  form  many 
of  his  speeches.  He  was  an  active,  ready,  and  zealous 
speaker;  and  wishing  to  extend  the  influence  of  his 
speeches  by  widening  the  circle  of  readers,  he  pub- 
lished them  in  convenient  form  for  circulation,  pres- 
ervation, and  reference. 

The  activity  of  his  mind  and  the  strength  of  his 
desire  to  educate  and  stimulate  public  opinion  are 
shown  in  the  following  list  of  pamphlets  of  which  he 
was  the  author:  The  Unification  and  Enlargement 
of  American  Interests;  Cotton  Growing;  Road  Build- 
ing and  Repairs;  Road  Building  and  Broad  Tires; 
Nursing  and  Nurses;  Home  Acquiring  and  Industrial 


AUTHOR  OF  BOOKS  ON  COTTON      229 

Insurance;  The  Currency;  American  Merchant  Ma- 
rine; The  Tariff;  National  Expansion;  Cottonseed 
and  Its  Products;  Cotton— The  Mill  Man's  Point 
of  View;  Labor  and  Legislation;  A  Plan  to  Raise 
Capital;  Cotton  as  a  Factor  in  Progress;  Export 
Trade;  Markets  for  American  Goods;  The  Storing 
and  Marketing  of  Cotton;  Fourth  of  July  Address; 
Patriotic  Songs;  The  Cotton  Gin — History  of  Its 
Invention;  The  South  (Some  Addresses);  Child 
Labor  and  Apprenticeship  Training;  Cotton  Ware- 
housing; Cotton  Picker;  Electric  Lighting;  Cotton- 
seed Oil  Mills;  The  Cotton  Industry;  Should  Start 
Early  in  Life;  The  Money  Value  of  Education  and 
Training;  Apprenticeship  Papers;  Cotton  Certificates; 
Address  at  Inter-State  Cottonseed  Crushers'  Associa- 
tion; Ohio  Valley  and  Southern  Industrial  Tour;  The 
South's  Position  in  American  Affairs;  Road  Building 
in  a  Southern  State;  The  Cultivation,  Picking,  Baling, 
and  Manufacturing  of  Cotton;  American  Cotton 
Manufacture  and  the  Tariff  (Charleston  Address); 
Company  K,  14th  S.  C.  Volunteers,  C.  S.  A.;  Building 
and  Loan  Associations. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

INDEPENDENT     AND     INDUSTRIAL     JOURNALIST — 
CHARLOTTE   "OBSERVER" NEWSPAPER   IDEALS 

ll  LTHOUGH  an  author  of  industrial  books 
L\  and  a  speaker  on  industrial  subjects,  it  was 
X  J^  chiefly  through  newspapers  that  Tompkins 
educated  the  South  to  appreciate  its  industrial  needs. 
He  possessed  in  a  high  degree  the  new^spaper  instinct, 
and  was  strongly  attracted  by  the  allurements  of 
journalism.  He  knew  the  power  of  printer's  ink, 
and  used  it  constantly.  Opportunity  now  came  to 
own  it,  and  was  seized  by  him  with  clear  vision  and 
steadfast  purpose. 

The  story  of  his  entrance  into  journalism  is  told 
by  Tompkins  with  characteristic  simplicity  and 
modesty.     He  says: 

"With  a  desire  to  have  a  better  daily  paper  in 
Charlotte  some  gentlemen  associated  themselves 
together  to  make  a  company  with  capital  enough  to 
put  out  a  good  paper,  as  they  thought.  Some  of 
these  gentlemen  were  Col.  Wm.  Johnson,  Major 
Clement  Dowd,  Col.  Ham  Jones,  and  others.  They 
raised  $6,000  to  buy  out  the  Chronicle  and  put  it  in 
shape.  They  invited  me  to  take  some  stock,  and  I 
took  $500  worth  of  stock  with  them.  They  then 
asked  me  to  become  a  director;  but  I  declined,  on 
the  ground  that  I  was  not  enough  in  Charlotte  and 
was  too  bus3\ 

"After  operating  two  years  the  company  had  lost 

230 


JOURNALIST  231 

half  of  its  capital  stock  and  was  in  debt  for  $3,000. 
Then  the  stockholders  met  to  consider  what  could 
be  done.  A  committee  came  to  me  and  asked  me  to 
take  charge  of  the  paper  as  its  business  manager.  I 
told  them  I  could  not  think  of  doing  this;  but  they 
persisted,  and  asked  on  what  conditions  I  would 
take  charge.  I  proposed  that  if  they  would  get 
up  all  the  stock,  I  would  buy  it  all,  and  upon  that 
condition  alone  would  I  undertake  to  run  the  paper. 
They  got  up  the  stock  according  to  my  proposition, 
and  I  bought  the  paper. 

"One  of  the  chief  difficulties  was  the  mechanical 
end.  The  machinery  was  inadequate,  and  what 
there  was  of  it  would  not  work  well.  I  went  to  work  to 
put  the  machinery  in  order,  so  that  they  could  be  sure 
of  getting  the  paper  out  on  time  every  morning.  I 
proceeded  myself  to  take  out  the  two-horse  gas  engine 
and  put  in  a  four-horse  gas  engine.  I  rearranged  and 
overhauled  all  the  machinery;  and  the  paper  im- 
mediately went  smoother  and  better.  Everybody 
worked  with  better  spirit,  knowing  that  this  work 
would  bring  out  a  paper  each  morning  on  time. 
After  getting  the  machinery  in  good  order,  the  paper 
jogged  along  in  very  good  shape." 

But  "jogging  along"  was  not  the  speed  nor  the 
gait  for  Tompkins.  He  quickly  recognized  the  neces- 
sity for  a  partner.  It  was  impossible  for  him  to  man- 
age and  edit  the  paper  while  performing  at  the  same 
time  his  work  as  engineer,  mill  builder,  and  manufac- 
turer of  mill  machinery.  The  paper  needed  an  editor 
and  general  manager,  a  man  of  ability,  character,  and 
newspaper  experience,  who  would  devote  himself 
entirely  to  its  management.  The  ideal  man  was  at 
hand,  living  in  a  small  country  village  and  issuing 
one  of  the  best,  if  not  the  best,  among  the  weekly 


232  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

newspapers  in  North  Carolina — Joseph  P.  Caldwell 
— editor  and  owner  of  the  States ville  Landmark. 
Tompkins  had  seen  Caldwell,  and  valued  him  at  his 
true  worth.  He  now  invited  him  to  Charlotte  to 
become  joint  owner  and  managing  editor  of  the  Ob- 
server. His  purpose  in  selecting  Caldwell  reveals  his 
purpose  in  developing  the  paper.  "In  securing 
Mr.  Caldwell,"  he  says  in  his  memoirs,  "to  become 
my  partner  in  the  Observer,  I  was  governed  by  various 
motives.  In  my  business  dealings  with  him  in 
Statesville  and  in  my  personal  acquaintance  with 
him,  he  had  seemed  to  be  a  man  of  strong  character 
and  clear  judgment  and  high  purpose,  a  man  of 
broad,  liberal  views,  who  was  looking  hopefully  to  the 
future  of  the  South.  The  one  thing  that  I  wanted 
the  paper  for  was  to  preach  the  doctrines  of  industrial 
development.  There  was  need  for  the  South  to  get 
away  from  one  single  crop  as  its  only  source  of  income. 
I  felt  that  I  had  seen  enough,  while  I  was  working 
in  the  North  and  during  the  year's  work  I  had  done 
in  Europe,  to  make  me  know  that  we  had  to  diversify 
our  pursuits  in  the  South,  not  only  in  raising  crops, 
but  in  all  industrial  ways,  before  we  could  get  from 
under  the  depression  which  existed.  Mr.  Caldwell 
and  I  talked  over  these  matters  and  agreed  in  views 
as  to  the  proper  course  for  the  paper  to  pursue  in  the 
accomplishment  of  that  result.  He  was  a  most 
able  writer;  and  with  definite  plans  and  views  before 
him  he  set  them  well  before  the  public.  There  was  a 
sort  of  tacit  understanding  that  I  would  look  after 
industrial  matters  and  he  would  look  out  for  the 
political  interests  of  the  paper.  Of  course  we  were 
both  interested  in  both  questions,  but  each  was  well 
suited  to  look  after  the  interest  that  was  in  a  way 
assigned  to  him.     The  partnership  was  always  an 


JOURNALIST  233 

easy  fitting  arrangement.  I  became  the  majority 
stockholder  after  awhile  by  the  purchase  of  some  of 
his  stock  at  his  request.  There  was  never  a  time 
throughout  the  partnership  of  about  twenty  years 
that  we  had  the  slightest  difference  that  made  a  jar 
of  any  kind. 

"Neither  of  us,  I  think,  ever  thought  about  the 
money  that  might  be  made  out  of  the  Observer,  and 
neither  pursued  any  course  or  policy  because  of  the 
money  involved.  The  paper  stood  for  the  welfare 
of  the  whole  people.  It  was  inaugurated  at  a  time 
when  there  was  need  for  reform.  The  South's  ideas 
had  been  so  controlled  by  the  slave-holding  oligarchy 
that  many  economic  questions  had  to  be  changed 
before  the  welfare  of  the  country  could  be  best  pro- 
moted. Yet  these  changes  had  to  be  carefully  ex- 
pressed and  worked  out  to  keep  from  offending  the 
delicate  sensibilities  of  a  fine  race  of  people,  who  had 
been  defeated  in  war,  whose  property  had  been  de- 
stroyed, who  afterward  had  been  oppressed  by  the 
conquerors  with  every  sort  of  harassment  that  was 
calculated  to  annoy,  irritate,  and  depress  their  feelings 
and  stifle  their  energies." 

There  was  never  a  partnership  more  felicitous, 
harmonious,  or  efficient  than  the  partnership  of 
Tompkins  and  Caldwell,  in  the  ownership,  editorship, 
and  management  of  the  Charlotte  Observer.  "We 
never  tried  to  come  into  exact  accord  on  all  sub- 
jects," said  Tompkins,  "but  Caldwell  was  a  man  of 
such  extraordinary  good  judgment  and  ability  that 
I  always  felt  that  a  question  discussed  and  left  in 
his  hands  was  left  in  its  very  best  shape."  After 
Caldwell's  death  the  following  tribute  was  paid 
him  by  Tompkins  in  the  columns  of  the  news- 
paper.    It  is  a  fine  picture  of  Caldwell;  and,  look- 


234  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

ing  beneath  the  surface,  it  is  a  perfect  picture  of 
Tompkins: 

J.  p.  CALDWELL 

"He  should  not  be  spoken  of  as  the  best  editor  in 
North  Carolina,  nor  of  the  South.  He  was  an  editor 
who  would  have  done  great  things  in  any  country. 

"In  the  reconstruction  of  the  fallen  fortunes  of 
his  state  he  was  among  the  first  to  discuss  the  value 
of  industrial  activities  for  revising  the  people's  wel- 
fare. In  politics  he  did  more  than  any  other  to  save 
Republicanism  in  his  native  state  from  Carpet- 
baggism,  and  Democracy  from  Communistic  Popu- 
lism. 

"He  equally  knew  and  supported  the  white  race 
and  the  colored  race,  each  with  its  proper  rights 
and  privileges.  He  enjoyed  the  highest  confidence 
of  both  races. 

"In  his  writings  he  so  balanced  the  forces  of  political 
movements  as  always  to  help  get  the  best  resultant 
force  for  the  State's  and  the  Nation's  welfare.  Per- 
haps better  than  all  he  balanced  Northern  and  South- 
ern sentiment  to  the  best  interest  of  the  whole  coun- 
try. His  balancing  of  forces  was  never  a  compro- 
mise; it  was  the  right  way." 

Working  harmoniously  together  for  twenty  years, 
Tompkins  and  Caldwell  made  the  Charlotte  Observer 
one  of  the  leading  Southern  newspapers,  conspicuous 
for  brilliant,  fearless,  and  powerful  editorials,  for 
constant  advocacy  of  industrial  development,  and 
for  impartial  publication  of  news.  The  keynote 
of  the  paper's  policy  was  pitched  by  Tompkins  in 
the  following  announcement: 

"The  Observer  has  always  been  and  will  continue 
to  be  independent  Democratic. 


JOURNALIST  235 

"It  will  not  undertake  radical  support  or  opposi- 
tion of  causes  with  which  Democracy  has  no  con- 
cern. 

"It  will  support  moral, intellectual, and  educational 
causes. 

"It  gives  special  attention  to  the  matter  of  collect- 
ing and  publishing  industrial  news." 

The  policy  of  political  independence  was  carried 
out  by  Caldwell  in  the  editorial  columns  and  sus- 
tained by  Tompkins  in  business  management  and 
financial  backing.  Under  the  guidance  of  two  such 
leaders  the  paper  could  not  be  a  political  organ  nor  a 
partisan  sheet.  It  cut  loose  from  party  shackles, 
and  refused  to  use  prevailing  methods  of  partisan 
warfare.  Its  columns  were  courteous  and  fair  to 
political  opponents,  publishing  accurate  and  full 
reports  of  Republican  meetings,  speeches,  and  plat- 
forms. It  would  not  garble,  distort,  nor  suppress 
political  news,  nor  misrepresent  in  any  way  the  utter- 
ances of  its  political  opponents.  It  was  brave, 
honest,  and  fair.  It  relied  upon  argument  and  reason 
rather  than  prejudice  and  deception  to  convince  the 
public  mind.  It  was  full  of  faith  in  the  people.  It 
believed  that  the  best  way  to  lead  the  people  is  to 
keep  them  informed. 

"It  is  the  purpose  of  the  Observer ^^^  said  its  an- 
nouncement, "to  publish  all  the  news  and  intelligent 
comment  on  same. 

"It  has  always  been  and  will  continue  to  be  fair 
in  all  its  interpretation  of  the  news. 

"Comprehensively  speaking,  the  purpose  is  to 
publish  a  Neivs  paper  and  give  the  news  so  fully 
that  each  reader  may  feel  that  if  he  has  glanced  over 
the  Observer  he  is  well  posted  about  the  events  of 
the  day  over  the  whole  world." 


236  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

The  supreme  test  of  the  Observer's  independent 
journaHsm  came  in  the  national  political  campaign 
over  *'free  silver."  Unhesitating  and  unflinching, 
it  stood  for  sound  money.  It  supported  Cleveland 
in  his  three  campaigns  with  zeal,  energy,  and  ability. 
It  believed  in  the  principles  for  which  he  stood,  ad- 
mired his  honesty  and  independence,  and  loved  him 
for  the  enemies  he  had  made.  It  hoped  and  labored 
for  the  regeneration  of  the  national  Democracy  under 
the  guidance  of  Cleveland.  It  distrusted  the  un- 
natural and  dangerous  coalition  of  Southern  conser- 
vatism with  Western  radicalism. 

When  the  national  Democratic  Party,  yielding 
to  the  clamor  and  threats  of  Populism,  endorsed 
free  silver  and  fiat  money,  the  Observer  repudiated 
the  platform  and  bolted  the  ticket.  It  was  over- 
whelmed with  a  flood  of  ignorance,  prejudice,  and 
misrepresentation;  but  it  survived  the  storm,  and 
was  justified  in  the  final  triumph  of  its  principles — 
in  the  maintenance  of  public  credit,  the  restoration 
of  business  confidence,  the  revival  of  business,  the 
increased  production  of  gold,  and  the  arrival  of  the 
long-delayed  era  of  abounding  prosperity. 

But  the  chief  work  and  the  chief  purpose  of  the 
Observer  was  the  industrial  development  of  the  South. 
In  the  mind  of  Tompkins  the  paper  existed  as  an 
instrument  for  this  purpose.  To  him  the  most  im- 
portant of  all  news  in  the  growing,  expanding,  and 
developing  South  was  industrial  news.  His  ideas 
on  the  subject  were  proclaimed  so  constantly  that  he 
was  regarded  almost  as  a  crank.  "Many  a  time," 
said  the  leading  Observer  reporter,  "Red  Buck," 
H.  E.  C.  Bryant,  "have  Mr.  Caldwell  and  myself 
joked  about  Mr.  Tompkins'  desire  to  fill  the  Observer 
with  *  industrial  news'  and  cut  out  all  sensations. 


JOURNALIST  237 

*Why  don't  you  put  cotton  mill  news  on  the  front 
page,  top  of  column,  and  lynchings  inside  the  paper?' 
Mr.  Tompkins  used  to  ask,  when  he  would  come  in 
from  some  engineering  task.  Mr.  Tompkins  thought 
of  the  South  and  its  industrial  development  all  the 
time.     Nothing  else  interested  him  for  years. " 

"Write  constructive  news,"  was  the  motto  of 
Tompkins  for  the  Observer  reporters.  "Very  few 
newspaper  reporters,"  said  he,  "understand  what  is 
news.  If  a  train  going  North  with  thirty  loaded  cars 
kills  a  tramp  ten  miles  out  of  Charlotte,  the  reporters 
flock  there,  get  the  name  of  the  tramp,  if  possible, 
find  out  what  sort  of  clothes  he  wore,  what  was  in 
his  pockets,  how  he  looked,  etc. — come  back  to  town 
and  write  it  up  in  one  or  more  columns.  They 
completely  missed  the  news.  They  gave  a  gruesome 
story  that  should  not  be  given  to  the  pubhc  at  all, 
or,  if  at  all,  very  briefly.  The  real  news  was  what 
the  thirty  cars  were  loaded  with  and  why  they  were 
going  North. 

"If  a  man  starts  up  a  stock  farm  or  a  vegetable 
farm,  and  runs  it  different  or  better  in  a  locality 
where  there  is  not  much  of  this  sort  of  industry,  or 
starts  a  new  enterprise  to  put  people  to  work,  that 
is  real  news.  Most  papers  fear  to  write  it  up,  how- 
ever, because  it  may  give  the  man  or  his  enterprise 
some  free  advertising." 

Two  years  after  the  organization  of  the  Observer  by 
Tompkins  and  Caldwell  its  columns  contained  the 
following  article  written  by  Tompkins: 

"the  'daily  observer'  and  its  policy" 

"The  ante-bellum  newspaper  of  the  South  was 
essentially  a  poHtical  institution.     Its  patrons  were 


238  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

chiefly  planters  and  slave  owners.  The  chief  interest 
it  could  have  for  its  patrons  was  in  telling  well  and 
fully  how  politics  were  going  and  in  exhibiting  the 
doings  of  statesmen  and  future  statesmen.  Every 
interest  in  the  South  was  entangled  with  the  institu- 
tion of  slavery.  Its  maintenance  depended  solely 
upon  the  work  of  Southern  statesmen  at  Washington, 
and  in  the  various  State  capitals. 

**  Whoever  subscribed  for  a  paper  was  moved  by 
his  interest  in  government  affairs  and  in  the  people 
who  conducted  them.  There  was  no  way  in  which 
a  cotton  planter  could  make  money  by  taking  a 
newspaper.  But  by  keeping  well  posted  he  could 
help  send  the  best  men  to  the  Legislature  and  to 
Congress  to  help  maintain  the  institution  of  slavery 
in  which  his  material  interests  were  involved. 

"Newspaper  men  of  the  South  are  not  yet  freed 
from  this  heritage  of  habit  of  conducting  a  newspaper 
for  politics  only.  Newspaper  patronage  in  the  South 
is  also  more  or  less  constrained  by  this  same  inherited 
idea  that  a  newspaper  is  a  luxury — a  sort  of  political 
luxury.  But  politics  is  no  longer  the  one  subject 
of  public  interest  to  Southern  people.  It  is  exceed- 
ingly important  for  the  benefit  of  the  papers  and  also 
for  the  benefit  of  the  people  that  this  fact  should  be 
appreciated  and  that  it  should  have  its  influence  in 
the  make-up  of  the  newspapers.  Southern  people 
are  becoming  more  and  more  interested  in  manu- 
factures— in  diversified  manufactures.  One  man  is 
interested  in  lumber,  another  in  cotton  oil,  another  in 
cotton  spinning,  another  in  mining  iron  ore,  another 
in  gold  mining,  and  so  on  through  a  long  list.  A 
large  number,  of  course,  are  interested  in  farming, 
and  especially  in  the  production  of  fruits  and  early 
vegetables. 


JOURNALIST  239 

"A  newspaper  which  gives  reasonable  space  and 
attention  to  these  various  subjects  is  in  no  sense  a 
luxury.  Its  readers  who  are  in  business  should  find 
its  subscription  price  a  most  excellent  investment. 
The  six,  eight,  or  ten  dollars  paid  annually  for  such  a 
paper  should  make  itself  over  many  times  in  a  year, 
provided,  of  course,  the  reader  is  intelligent  enough 
to  avail  himself  of  the  benefits  of  special  information 
on  the  subjects  upon  which  news  and  general  informa- 
tion is  gathered. 

"In  one  Southern  paper  of  good  repute  the 
published  matter  in  one  week,  exclusive  of  the 
regular  markets  and  advertisements,  was  as  fol- 
lows: 


Crimes,  casualties,  and  political  news  .  94  per  cent. 

Industrial 2 

Farming 4 

Literature  and  art 0 


a 

it 


"Yet  it  doesn't  seem  to  have  occurred  either  to  the 
management  or  the  patrons  of  that  paper  but  that 
it  is  a  powerful  good  paper. 

"Politics  is  the  old  and  accustomed  diet  to  its 
readers  and  the  paper  is  organized  to  produce  this 
diet.  It  would  probably  find  it  very  awkward  to  be 
required  to  change  it  much.  If  three  men  meet 
together  to  make  a  deal  about  ward  representation 
in  an  approaching  county  political  convention,  it 
makes  first-rate  material  in  such  a  paper  for  a  one 
quarter  to  one  half  column  editorial,  while  a  conven- 
tion of  business  men  or  manufacturers  may  meet  and 
be  disposed  of  in  a  few  lines,  somewhere  in  the  inside 
of  the  paper. 


240  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

"Under  its  present  management  the  Daily  Observer 
has  made  a  material  change  in  these  matters.  It 
gives  special  attention  to  the  matter  of  collecting 
and  publishing  industrial  news.  Some  of  its  expe- 
riences in  revealing  to  its  old  patrons  the  money  value 
of  a  good  paper  are  unique. 

"When  the  paper  was  purchased  by  its  present 
owners,  its  subscription  price  was  $5.00  per  year, 
payable  about  as  the  subscriber  pleased.  The  first 
move  w^as  to  change  the  price  to  $6.00  per  year,  and 
there  was  a  loss  of  some  subscribers  on  account  of 
this  change.  But  most  of  the  subscribers  stayed 
with  the  paper  at  the  new  price,  probably  as  much  as 
anything  else  in  a  spirit  of  approval  of  any  effort 
to  make  a  good  paper  in  Charlotte. 

"For  the  past  two  years  the  subject  matter  of  the 
paper  has  been  well  diversified  and  careful  attention 
has  been  given  to  industrial  subjects.  A  competent 
man  has  been  put  on  the  road  to  do  special  work, 
most  of  which  relates  to  education  or  developing 
manufactures.  The  expenses  of  producing  this  sort 
of  paper  naturally  increased  very  materially,  so  that 
on  the  first  of  January  last  the  subscription  price 
was  again  changed — this  time  from  $6.00  to  $8.00 
per  year. 

"  This  change  caused  some  considerable  dissatisfac- 
tion, and  quite  a  number  of  orders  were  received  to 
discontinue  the  paper.  Every  one  of  these  orders  to 
stop  the  paper  indicated  in  one  way  or  another 
that  the  old  habit  still  survived  of  looking  upon  a 
newspaper  as  simply  a  sort  of  luxury  to  be  read  to 
pass  away  idle  time.  A  job  printer  wrote,  *Please 
stop  my  paper.  I  like  it  but  do  not  feel  that  I  can 
afford  to  pay  $8.00  per  year  simply  to  gratify  my 
desire  to  read  your  paper.' 


JOURNALIST  241 

"This  letter  was  answered  about  as  follows: 

"*The  paper  will  be  stopped  as  you  direct.  We 
beg,  however,  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that 
our  paper  ought  to  do  much  more  than  furnish  reading 
matter  for  your  evenings.  For  the  last  two  years 
it  has  contained  early  information  of  the  establish- 
ment of  many  industrial  works.  Amongst  others  the 
organization  of  several  in  your  town  was  first  made 
public  in  our  paper.  You  have  probably  got  some 
of  the  job  printing  work  from  some  of  these  concerns 
by  knowing  who  to  see  about  it.  You  got  this  in- 
formation out  of  our  paper.'" 

Under  this  policy  the  Observer  became  indispens- 
able to  industrial  workers,  managers,  and  investors 
throughout  the  Carolina  Piedmont.  An  afternoon 
edition  was  issued,  known  as  the  Charlotte  Evening 
Chronicle;  and  the  Observer  Company  became  also 
controlling  owners  of  the  Greenville,  S.  C,  News. 
Through  these  papers  Tompkins  daily  heralded  far 
and  wide  the  gospel  of  industrialism.  His  texts 
were  manufactures,  diversified  agriculture,  stock 
and  dairy  farming,  fruits,  truck  farms,  improved 
roads,  industrial  education,  building  and  loan  associa- 
tions, thrift,  enterprise,  self-reliance,  and  economy. 
He  knew  that  the  Old  South  was  dead  and  that  the 
New  South  must  be,  first  of  all,  a  new  industrial 
South.  With  this  theme  he  filled  the  Observer  and 
his  other  papers.  He  preached  it  with  the  faith, 
the  zeal,  and  the  power  of  a  genuine  missionary.  He 
steadily  converted  everybody  in  touch  with  him, 
and  organized  into  a  band  of  industrial  workers  for 
the  building  of  the  New  South  the  entire  force  of 
his  three  newspapers — editors,  reporters,  canvassers, 
and  correspondents. 

The  following  letter  of  instruction  to  his  newspaper 


/ 


242  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

employees  shows  his  methods,  his  tact,  and  his  skill  in 
accomplishing  this  result: 


for  writers  and  canvassers  of  the  observer 
company" 

"The  newspapers  of  the  Observer  Company  are 
in  our  opinion  unsurpassed  for  general  news  and  for 
editorial  writing.  The  deficiency  of  almost  all  South- 
ern papers  is  that  they  contain  little  else  except  poli- 
tics and  general  news.  Formerly,  these  were  the 
only  matters  of  interest  in  the  South.  In  late  years, 
both  manufactures  and  commerce  have  revived  and 
the  interest  in  these  is  equal  to,  if  not  superior  to, 
the  interest  in  politics  and  general  news.  Therefore, 
it  is  very  important  that  the  gatherers  of  news  and 
writers  should  publish  items  relating  to  this  industrial 
development  and  commercial  revival.  A  large  num- 
ber of  the  readers  of  the  Observer  papers  take  the 
keenest  interest  in  learning  that  a  bridge  is  to  be  built, 
and  it  is  very  desirable  that  the  details  be  published; 
who  the  Commissioners  are  that  will  let  the  bridge 
out,  whether  the  contract  has  already  been  let, 
whether  stone-work  will  be  required,  etc. 

"Notes  of  a  new  factory  are  interesting,  and  it  is 
very  important  to  give  the  names  of  the  projectors 
and  their  addresses. 

"If  a  railroad  is  extended  into  a  new  territory 
where  apples  abound,  every  grocer  is  interested  to 
know  the  facts.  The  names  of  those  who  are  in 
position  to  furnish  apples  in  the  new  territory,  to- 
gether with  their  names,  is  very  important. 

"In  fact,  everything  out  of  which  people  could 
make  money  or  that  would  lead  to  the  extension  of 
trade  is  the  best  of  good  news,  and  the  more  of  this 


JOURNALIST  243 

that  is  put  in  the  paper  the  more  the  paper  will  be 
read,  the  easier  it  will  be  sold,  and  the  better  the  argu- 
ment that  can  be  made  for  its  sale.  We  want  to 
get  to  where  we  can  assure  every  subscriber  that  if  he 
will  watch  the  news  and  advertising  columns  he  will 
be  sure  to  get  information  out  of  which  he  can  make 
a  hundred  dollars  a  year  as  a  minimum  and  possibly 
a  thousand  dollars  or  two  thousand  dollars.  In 
other  words,  we  want  to  make  the  paper  valuable  as 
a  money-making  proposition  for  every  subscriber, 
provided  he  wants  to  make  money.  My  own 
opinion  is  that  our  papers  are  that  kind  already,  but 
they  can  be  still  further  improved. 

"The  Charlotte  Observer  is  by  long  odds  the  cheap- 
est paper  in  the  State  for  the  man  to  buy.  The 
reason  is  that  it  is  an  investment  which  makes  a 
return.  In  addition  to  that  it  gives  more  news, 
better  editorials,  and  more  literature  than  any  other 
paper  in  the  State.  The  former  good  work  of  the 
paper  in  the  various  lines  will  not  be  diminished  in 
the  least,  but  there  is  room  to  improve  the  industrial 
news,  both  as  to  the  completeness  of  the  items  and 
as  to  the  number  of  them.  What  is  wanted  is  a 
statement  of  the  facts,  the  names  and  addresses 
of  those  connected  with  an  enterprise,  what  materials 
are  yet  to  be  bought,  and  who  should  be  written  to 
about  them.  It  is  not  desirable  to  string  out  indus- 
trial items;  padding  them  sometimes  fills  the  paper  to 
no  purpose." 

Tompkins  was  not  merely  a  preacher.  As  a  worker 
he  set  the  example  for  workers  in  every  department 
of  his  papers.  His  editorials  and  various  contribu- 
tions in  the  Charlotte  Observer  on  industrial  subjects 
attracted  national  attention,  and  were  copied  by 
leading    industrial    and    commercial    journals.     His 


244  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

reports  of  industrial  expositions  and  new  industrial 
enterprises  were  especially  popular  and  attractive. 
Besides  publishing  his  writings  the  newspapers 
sought  him  out  for  interviews  and  gave  him  oppor- 
tunities, which  he  never  neglected,  for  preaching 
industrial  sermons  and  exploiting  the  industrial 
development  of  the  New  South.  In  the  North  he 
always  talked  about  the  South,  while  his  sermons  at 
home  related  to  Northern  thrift,  enterprise,  and  prog- 
ress. 

Whenever  he  travelled,  and  wherever  he  stopped, 
notebook  and  pencil  were  busy,  jotting  down  obser- 
vations, facts,  ideas  to  be  published  later.  He  made 
use  of  all  possible  material  that  could  be  used  either 
to  point  the  moral  or  adorn  the  tale  of  industrialism. 
New  inventions,  new  enterprises,  new  fashions,  new 
books,  new  people,  railroad  wrecks,  flying  machines, 
drummers'  yams,  Texas  cowboy  escapades,  moon- 
shine liquor,  millionaire  banquets,  the  elevator 
boy,  the  Chinese  Ambassador,  abbreviated  skirts 
and  fancy  hosiery,  anything,  everything,  and  every- 
body— all  the  world — was  grist  in  the  voracious  Tomp- 
kins mill  of  industrialism.  He  ground  it  out  and 
gave  it  to  Piedmont  Carolina  for  its  daily  meal. 

"I  have  never  known  a  newspaper  man,"  said  the 
editor  of  the  Manufacturers^  Record,  "with  so  keen 
a  nose  for  news — not  the  news  of  sensationalism  or 
gossip  or  small  politicians — but  the  news  which 
makes  for  human  advancement.  He  can  get  a 
better  newspaper  story  out  of  the  improvements  of 
skme  worn-out  farm,  out  of  the  chance  remark 
of  some  fellow  traveller  about  an  invention  or  a  new 
piece  of  machinery  or  a  newly  discovered  business 
opportunity,  than  the  average  man  can  get  out  of  the 
sensational  events  which  fill  so  large  a  place  in  the 


JOURNALIST  245 

daily  papers  of  the  land.  A  chance  remark  of  some 
seemingly  unimportant  fact  will  often  catch  his  in- 
terest, and  the  ever-ready  notebook  and  pencil 
are  at  hand  to  jot  it  down  for  future  investigation." 

The  helpless  invalidism  of  Caldwell  in  1907  threw 
upon  Tompkins  the  sole  control  and  management 
of  the  Observer  Company's  publications.  He  de- 
voted himself  to  the  task  with  energy,  enthusiasm, 
and  power.  His  capacity  for  taking  pains,  his  ex- 
ecutive ability,  his  conservative,  judicial  tempera- 
ment, his  broadness  of  view,  his  knowledge  of  and 
sympathy  with  manual  workers  were  given  to  the 
development  of  journalism  as  fully  and  zealously  as 
they  had  been  given  to  the  development  of  manu- 
factures. His  head,  his  heart,  and  his  hand  were 
felt  in  all  departments  of  his  papers.  At  home  or 
abroad,  personally  or  by  mail  and  wire,  his  ideas  were 
transmitted  daily  to  editors,  reporters,  and  business 
managers.  Every  department  of  his  papers  re- 
ceived his  watchful  attention.  Memoranda,  hints, 
and  instructions  to  managers  and  workers  in  various 
departments  of  his  papers  were,  as  a  rule,  preserved 
by  him  and  filed  in  duplicate.  They  fill  many  large 
volumes  and  testify  not  only  to  his  unusual  capacity 
for  work  and  remarkable  versatility  of  talent,  but 
also  to  fine  literary  ability  and  high  ideals. 

A  few  samples  of  his  notes,  memoranda,  editorials, 
and  other  newspaper  contributions,  may  give  a  hint 
of  the  variety,  the  extent,  and  the  power  of  his  talents 
and  abilities  as  a  newspaper  manager. 

To  one  of  his  editors,  who  made  excuses  for  Yellow 
Journalism : 

"I  have  read  with  some  degree  of  surprise  your 
editorial  of  Saturday  on  the  subject  of  Yellow  Joumal- 


m^ 


246  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

ism.  I  can't  agree  with  you  that  the  decent  pubhc 
demands  such  news,  at  least  not  the  subscribing 
pubhc.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is  it  ruins  the  paper 
for  many  a  family,  and  gives  concern  to  many  a 
parent  far  beyond  any  outside  value  to  anybody. 
It  makes  easy  news  to  fill  up  a  paper  with,  but  the 
worst  kind  of  news  for  the  subscriber  and  his  family. 
Many  a  subscriber  feels  that  having  paid  for  the 
paper,  he  and  his  family  are  deprived  of  the  value 
of  it  by  yellow  journalism.  The  claim  of  new^spaper 
people  that  it  is  necessary  to  pubhsh  indecent  news 
doesn't  seem  to  be  borne  out  by  the  facts.  Talk 
to  any  of  those  people  w^ho  pay  for  the  paper  by 
the  year,  and  I  have  not  heard  one  of  them  say  a  word 
in  justification  of  any  indecent  new^s,  or  'yellow 
journalism'  as  you  call  it.  Most  of  those  who  love 
to  read  sensational  stuff  borrow  the  paper  to  read  it. 
They  don't  even  buy  the  one  paper  at  one  cent. 

"The  subject  is  a  big  and  important  one,  and  I 
hope  you  will  investigate  further  and  pursue  it  fur- 
ther." 

To  another  editor,  who  had  proven  teachable: 
"I  want  to  compliment  you  on  your  issue  of  April 
12th.  The  first  page  is  clean,  constructive,  and  con- 
ducive to  human  welfare.  Your  editorials  in  the 
same  issue  are  on  admirable  subjects  and  well  written. 
I  congratulate  you  on  the  progress  of  your  paper  in 
the  way  of  subordinating  calamity  news  and  noisy  or 
indecent  news  to  the  better  class  of  news  which  you 
are  now  handling."  """' 

To  the  same:  "Too  much  politics": 
"I  know  that  the  politics  of  your  state  are  strenu- 
ous, but  is  not  your  paper  getting  to  be  too  strenuous 


JOURNALIST  247 

upon  the  subject  of  politics  of  your  state?  Too 
much  poHtics  will  ruin  any  paper  ultimately  in  my 
judgment." 

To  J.  P.  Caldwell,  opposing  a  reduction  in  the 
price  of  the  Charlotte  Observer : 

"The  phantom  of  a  cheap  paper  at  a  cheap  price 
has  been  pursued  frequently  in  this  State.  Nobody 
so  far  has  had  will  power  to  cease  the  fruitless  chase 
except  the  Charlotte  Observer.  We  have  got  along 
fairly  well  in  this  isolated  policy,  and  I  am  in  favor 
of  maintaining  it.  I  would  advocate  emphasizing 
it  still  further  by  producing  a  seven-day  paper  at  an 
increased  price,  if  it  were  a  matter  of  following  my 
opinion  alone.  The  question  we  are  discussing  is 
really  the  question  upon  which  people  succeed  or  fail. 
It  is  a  question  of  good  work  at  good  prices,  or  cheap 
work  at  cheap  prices."* 

To  the  editor  of  the  Charlotte  Observer,  on  editorial 
policy : 

"We  must  keep  the  Observer  in  position  for  it  to 
speak  when  it  is  necessary — To  speak  for  vested 
interest,  when  vested  interest  is  right — to  speak 
against  vested  interest,  when  vested  interest  is 
wrong.  This  is  the  very  best  protection  we  could 
give  to  vested  interest.  Any  other  policy  would  be 
to  prostitute  the  voice  of  the  paper  until  it  could  do 
nobody  harm  or  good. 

"A  newspaper  should  never  make  itself  a  busy- 
body, hunting  up  mare's  nests  to  expose.  A  news- 
paper should  take  pains  to  be  neighborly  with  all 
its  neighbors,  and  that  means  it  must  not  interfere 
nor  prod  too  much  with  private  affairs. 

•His  advice  prevailed.    The  Observer  was  issued  daily,  the  first  "Daily"  in  North 
Carolioa. 


248  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

"A  newspaper  ought  to  be  friendly  to  the  welfare 
of  children  in  mills,  yet  it  must  be  able  to  recognize 
the  necessities  of  the  cotton  manufacturers'  interest 
also.  It  must  so  differentiate  these  two  interests 
that  it  can  distinguish  between  them.  It  cannot 
blindly  take  the  side  of  emotional  opposition  to 
child  labor,  neither  can  it  take  the  side  of  the  mill 
interest,  but  it  must  of  necessity  try  to  adjust  these 
two.  It  must  naturally  take  the  position  of  support- 
ing one  side  in  many  things  and  then  supporting 
the  other  side  in  many  things.  It  must  never  be 
compelled  to  condemn  or  approve.  It  must  reserve 
the  right  either  to  condemn  or  to  approve,  according 
to  the  merits  of  the  case." 

To  one  of  his  editors,  who  was  long  on  editorial 
and  short  on  news: 

"  The  public  is  more  important  than  the  editor  and 
the  publisher  put  together,  and  this  should  always 
be  recognized.  The  public  pays  for  the  paper,  and 
what  it  wants  to  buy  is  news  rather  than  much 
opinion." 

To  a  careless  business  manager: 

"The  report  inclosed  does  not  show  the  progress 
that  you  are  making,  or  any  of  the  results  that  are 
being  obtained  on  the  paper.  I  have  previously 
suggested  that  you  finish  this  report  and  make  it 
show  what  we  want  to  know  each  week.  I  carefully 
prepared  a  statement  of  this  sort  and  sent  it  to  you 
some  time  ago.  A  report  which  does  not  show  much 
of  anything  is  no  better  than  no  report  at  all.  You 
don't  even  add  up  your  column  of  figures.  One  of 
the  most  important  items  in  any  business  is  not  on 
the  report  at  all,  to  wit,  your  net  balance  in  the  bank. 


JOURNALIST  249 

I  return  this  report  to  be  made  out  fully;  and  I  do 
this  more  in  the  interest  of  having  you  attain  to  a 
definite  purpose  in  making  these  reports,  so  that 
you  then  can  see  to  what  end  you  have  got  to  work 
in  the  future." 

To  the  Observer's  Washington  correspondent — a 
compliment : 

"  I  find  myself  looking  for  your  items  of  news  from 
Washington,  and  I  simply  want  to  write  this  line 
of  compliment  for  your  method  of  procedure.  I  am 
a  great  believer  in  the  value  of  naked  news,  of  telling 
it  quickly,  and  telling  it  in  one  piece,  and  telling  it 
as  soon  after  it  happens  as  possible,  even  if  it  is  only 
one  line." 

To  the  same — a  sample  suggestion: 

"Could  you  get  up  a  little  story  for  the  Observer, 
very  briefly  stating  what  is  the  contention  between 
Austria  and  Servia.^  In  what  way  is  Russia  in- 
terested .^^  and  in  what  way  is  Germany  interested.'^" 

To  a  business  manager — on  newspaper  contests: 
"I  have  just  received  your  audits  to  June  30th. 
This  audit  seems  to  verify  the  position  I  have  always 
held,  that  there  is  nothing  in  contests  in  the  newspaper 
business.  I  am  not  criticising  but  commenting. 
It  is  the  old,  old  story  that  the  way  to  get  along  in 
the  world  is  for  the  shoemaker  to  stick  to  his  last. 
I  have  observed  that  in  all  contests,  special  editions, 
and  otherwise,  some  peripatetic  juggler  gets  off  with 
the  money  and  the  paper  holds  the  bag. 

"The  successes  of  life  are  mostly  made  by  a  mo- 
notonous grind  and  by  laying  out  a  task  to  accomplish 
and  being  sure  of  accomplishing  it.     Pyrotechnical 


250  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

efforts  to  clean  up  a  debt  all  at  once  rarely  ever  work 
— if  ever." 

To  one  of  his  editors — "The  first  business  of  a  news- 
paper": 

"The  first  business  of  a  newspaper  is  to  stay  in 
the  newspaper  business.     This  means: 

(1)  It  shall  not  be  a  political  organ. 

(2)  It  shall  not  be  persuaded  into  various  specula- 
tive schemes,  such  as  premium  contests,  voting 
contests,  or  anything  whatever  outside  of  the  news- 
paper business. 

(3)  It  is  not  a  literary  proposition,  nor  a  feature 
proposition,  nor  any  kind  of  a  stunt  proposition. 
Its  business  should  be  strictly  to  get  news  together 
and  to  publish  it  for  the  benefit  of  the  people." 

To  one  of  his  editors — on  "Box-Car  Headlines": 
"Abundant  space  taken   with  box-car  headlines 
over  nothing  of  consequence  may  be  used  for  printing 
the  actual  news,  and  in  about  the  quantities  that 
people  want  to  read." 

To  one  of  his  editors — on  vituperative  articles: 
"In  the  paper  of  July  5th  is  a  reprint  of  a  story 
by  Watterson,  headed  'Wilson,  Satan,  Bryan,  and 
Snake,'  or  something  to  that  effect.  In  the  spirit 
of  conference  I  want  to  suggest  that  I  do  not  think 
it  is  a  good  thing  for  a  paper  to  print  wildly  wTitten 
and  vituperative  articles — not  even  to  reprint  them. 
The  fate  of  both  orators  and  writers  of  ultra-cynical 
and  ultra-sarcastic  language  has  not  generally  been  a 
wholly  agreeable  one.  It  is  interesting  to  read  one 
article  in  ultra-sarcastic  or  ultra-abusive  vein,  but 
it  does  not  tend  to  build  up  interest. 


JOURNALIST  251 

"Mr.  Caldwell  and  I  for  nearly  twenty  years  pur- 
sued a  plan  of  publishing  news  that  would  help  some- 
body, and  in  no  case  that  would  damage  or  injure 
anybody.  We  made  a  fine  success  in  carrying  out 
these  principles  and  ideas." 

To  one  of  his  editors— "The  subscription  list  vs. 
letters  of  approval: 

"Some  editors  lay  great  stress  on  an  occasional 
letter  of  approval.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that 
letters  of  approval  don't  cut  much  figure  in  the  run- 
ning of  a  newspaper.  Most  people  don't  write 
any  letters  at  all  of  approval  or  disapproval;  and 
therefore  you  can't  get  a  gauge  on  what  the  public 
think  by  letters  of  approval  or  disapproval.  It  is 
the  subscription  list  which  marks  the  favor  or  dis- 
favor of  the  public.  Nothing  could  be  more^  inter- 
esting than  the  interpretation  of  a  newspaper's  sub- 
scription list.  The  subscription  list  is  the  cold- 
blooded scales,  the  rise  and  fall  of  which  marks  the 
real  measure  of  approval  or  disapproval  of  the  paper. 

To  a  managing  editor— "  Truthfulness  and  Clean- 

liness"  i 

"The  Associated  Advertising  Clubs  of  America  in 
convention  at  Dallas,  Texas,  have  emphasized  the 
necessity  of  truthfulness  of  statements  m  advertising 
matter.  It  might  also  be  said  that  in  the  reading 
columns  cleanliness  is  as  important  as  truthfulness 
in  the  advertising  columns." 

To  the  same — on  "Lambasting": 

"Many  newspaper  writers  fall  into  the  error  of  sup- 
posing that  lambasting  people  is  forceful  writing. 
The  only  force  of  such  writing  is  a  draft  upon  the 


252  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

paper's  resources  and  standing.  Without  the  back- 
ing and  protection  of  the  paper  such  writing  would 
fall  flat  and  excite  the  contempt  of  the  community 
and  sometimes  bring  chastisement  upon  the  writer." 

To  the  editor  of  the  Observer — "Newspaper  influ- 
ence and  duty": 

"I  have  read  in  the  morning  paper  with  great 
interest  some  reflections  by  Mr.  William  Jennings 
Bryan  on  the  subject  of  loss  of  influence  of  news- 
papers. He  attributes  the  loss  to  the  fact  that  papers 
devote  so  much  space  to  crime  and  domestic  infelicity. 
This  is  precisely  what  I  have  said  repeatedly  in  our 
papers. 

"The  editor  of  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  com- 
menting on  Mr.  Bryan's  observation,  says  that  if 
people  have  the  kind  of  politicians  and  priests  they 
deserve,  they  also  have  the  kind  of  newspaper  they 
deserve.  I  don't  understand  just  what  Mr.  Ogden 
is  driving  at,  but  I  think  the  newspaper  ought  to  be 
of  the  right  kind,  regardless  of  priests  and  politicians, 
and  rather  help  the  people  to  make  the  right  kind 
of  priests  and  politicians." 

Editorial  in  Charlotte  Observer — "Brevity": 

"An  essential  element  of  good  writing  is  brevity. 

"The  Bible  narrative  of  the  Creation  uses  about 
800  words. 

"The  narrative  of  the  Resurrection  about  300 
words. 

"The  narrative  of  the  Prodigal  Son  about  500 
words. 

"The  Lord's  Prayer  67  words. 

"The  Ten  Commandments  about  300  words. 

"Lincoln's  oration  at  Gettysburg  269  words." 


JOURNALIST  253 

Editorial  paragraph— " The  too  busy  man": 

"The  lazy  man  is  not  the  only  one  who  stands  in 

the  way  of  his  own  progress.     The  too  busy  man  is 

equally  in  his  own  way.     Who  is  there  who  has  not 

seen  men  so  very  busy  that  they  hindered  business." 

Editorial  paragraph — "Sentiment": 

"The  sentiments  of  life  are  stronger  than  the  in- 
terests. Whoever  does  something  that  is  attuned  to 
human  sentiment  attains  fame.  Burns  and  Poe 
are  of  the  elect.  Byron  living  was  not  altogether 
nice,  but  he  attuned  his  heart  to  human  sentiment, 
and  the  world  has  forgiven  him  his  faults  in  admira- 
tion of  the  sweetness  of  his  song." 

Editorial  paragraph — "Ships." 

"We  are  building  a  ship  canal  on  one  side  of  the 
Union  at  a  cost  of  four  hundred  million  dollars.  We 
are  discussing  a  railroad  in  Alaska  at  a  cost  of  thirty- 
five  milHon  dollars.  Surely  when  these  are  done  we 
ought  to  be  able  to  get  about  the  world.  ^Vhat  we 
now  seem  to  want  most  is  ships  to  take  our  agricul- 
tural and  manufactured  products  to  the  markets  of 
the  world." 

Editorial,  Charlotte  065eri?er—"  Self-government" : 
"The  government  of  the  United  States  has  been 
a  great  success.  It  is  a  government  suited  to  the 
character  of  the  original  population.  It  is  not  a 
government  suitable  for  Mexico  or  for  China.  Most 
of  the  troubles  we  have  had  with  the  government  of 
the  United  States  have  come  from  the  mistaken 
theories  of  the  Fifteenth  Amendment,  and  the  mis- 
taken theory  of  Mr.  Jefferson  that  all  men  were 
born  equal. 


254  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

"All  men  of  the  general  character  of  the  Puritan 
and  Cavalier  are  more  or  less  equal  and  are  capable 
of  self-government.  But  men  of  the  character  of 
the  average  Mexican  and  Chinese  are  not  capable 
of  self-government.  It  looks  as  if  we  would  have  to 
modify  our  theories  of  self-government  and  the  uni- 
versal equality  of  men." 

Editorial,  Charlotte  Observer— "  The  World  Tri- 
bunal and  Mexico": 

"  There  is  a  world  tribunal  which  must  be  reckoned 
with  in  every  important  question  which  comes  up 
within  one  of  the  nations,  or  between  the  nations  of 
the  world. 

"In  the  United  States  the  institution  of  slavery 
was  abolished  by  this  tribunal.  In  Egypt  modern 
standards  of  law  and  order,  commercial  and  otherwise, 
were  established  by  the  same  tribunal.  Again  in 
Cuba  a  condition  incompatible  with  modern  civiliza- 
tion was  terminated  by  the  same  influence.  Civiliza- 
tion is  always  patient.  It  is  slow  to  take  hold  of  a 
festering  sore  until  every  local  human  endeavor 
has  been  allowed  to  exhaust  itself. 

"The  United  States  has  been  long-suffering  in  her 
patience  with  Mexico.  We  were  long-suffering  with 
Cuba,  but  the  time  came  when  the  self-respect  of 
the  Nation  and  the  opinions  of  mankind  demanded 
that  we  go  down  and  put  an  end  to  an  intolerable 
condition.  We  approved  President  Wilson's  course 
of  exhausting  every  possible  peaceful  means  of  having 
order  restored  in  Mexico;  and  we  further  approved 
his  patience  and  good  judgment  in  letting  them  bring 
their  own  issues  to  a  conclusion,  if  they  can  possibly 
do  so.  But  if  the  President's  policy  fails  to  bring 
about  law  and  order,  the  United  States  must  do  it, 


JOURNALIST  255 

as  they  did  it  in  Cuba,  as  England  did  it  in  Egypt, 
as  it  must  always  be  done  with  people  who  disregard 
law  and  order  and  have  to  be  forced  to  do  what  is 
right." 

Among  all  the  creations  of  Tompkins  the  Observer 
was  his  favorite.  It  was  in  a  sense  the  voice  of  his 
work,  the  daily  herald  of  the  New  South.  His  deep 
emotional  nature  enfolded  it  to  his  heart  as  the  darling 
child  of  his  brain.  "I  asked  my  brother  one  day," 
says  !Mrs.  Grace  Tompkins  Ennett,  "why  he  did 
not  sell  the  Observer,  and  get  rid  of  its  cares,  responsi- 
bilities, and  labor."  "Sell  the  Observer!''  said  he, 
"Do  you  think  your  mother  would  sell  you!" 

"The  Charlotte  Observer,''  said  Howard  A.  Banks, 
"was  IVIr.  Tompkins'  pet;  it  was  his  sweetheart 
and  he  was  its  lover.  It  was  the  second  real  romance 
of  his  career." 

The  Observer  was  the  thousand-tongued  messenger 
of  Tompkins  to  the  industrial  South.  It  helped 
him  as  a  builder,  organizer,  and  industrial  missionary. 
His  practical  work  in  turn  as  builder  and  organizer 
gave  special  meaning  to  the  Observer's  industrial 
sermons.  "Of  all  Southern  newspaper  men,"  said 
Clark  Howell,  editor  of  the  Atlanta  Constitution, 
"  the  one  whose  practical  work  as  an  industrial  leader 
has  accomplished  most  is  D.  A.  Tompkins  of  the 
Charlotte  Observer," 


CHAPTER    XV 

MEMBER     OF     U.     S.     INDUSTRIAL     COMMISSION- 
MILL  OWNER  AND  MANAGER — ^VIEWS  ON  LABOR 

ON  JUNE  18,  1898,  an  Act  of  Congress  au- 
thorized the  appointment  of  a  non-partisan 
commission  to  collate  information  and  con- 
sider and  recommend  legislation  to  meet  the  prob- 
lems presented  by  labor,  agriculture,  and  capital. 

Tompkins  was  appointed  a  member  of  this  Indus- 
trial Commission  by  President  McKinley  in  recogni- 
tion of  his  eminent  career  as  industrial  worker, 
organizer,  and  promoter.  He  entered  into  the  work 
of  the  Commission  with  zeal,  energy,  and  patriotic 
purpose.  The  problems  before  it  had  interested  him 
for  years.  As  a  student  he  had  studied  them,  as  a 
man  of  affairs  he  had  handled  them.  The  meetings 
of  the  Commission  he  attended  with  scrupulous 
fidelity,  travelling  with  it  over  the  country  and  post- 
poning to  its  work  all  private  business. 

The  report  of  the  Commission*  is  published  in 
nineteen  bulky  volumes.  It  covers  a  large  portion  of 
the  vast  field  of  political  economy,  dealing  practically 
with  all  industrial  problems  then  confronting  the 
American  people.  The  following  titles  will  indicate 
the  scope  of  the  work: 

*At  the  time  of  the  final  rep>ort,  February  10, 1902,  the  Commission  was  composed  as 
follows: 

Mr.  Albert  Clarke,  Chairman;  Senator  Boies  Penrose;  Senator  Stephen  R.  Mallory; 
Senator  John  W.  Daniel;  Senator  Thomas  R.  Bard;  Representative  John  J.  Gardner; 
Representative  L.  F.  Livingston;  Representative  John  C.  Bell;  Representative  Theobold 
Otjen;  Mr.  William  Lorimer;  Mr.  Andrew  L.  Harris;  Mr.  John  M.  Farquhar;  Mr.  Eugene 
D.  Conger;  Mr.  Thomas  W.  Philips;  Mr.  Charles  J.  Harris;  Mr.  John  L.  Kennedy;  Mr. 
Charles  H.  Litchman;  Mr.  D.  A.  Tompkins;  E.  Dana  Durand,  Secretary. 

256 


U.  S.  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION 


257 


Volume  I. 
II. 
"  III. 
"  IV. 
V. 
"  VI. 
"     VII. 

"    VIII. 

X. 

"      XI. 

"     XII. 

"  XV. 
"  XVI. 
"  XVII. 

*^XVIII. 
"  XIX. 


Trusts  and  Industrial  Combinations. 
Trust  and  Corporation  Laws. 
Prison  Labor. 
Transportation. 
Labor  Legislation. 
Distribution  of  Farm  Products. 
Capital  and  Labor    in    Manufactures 
and  General  Business. 
Chicago  Labor  Disputes. 
Agriculture  and  Agricultural  Labor. 
Agriculture  and  Taxation. 
Capital    and    Labor    in    the    Mining 
Industries. 

Immigration  and  Education. 
Foreign  Labor  Legislation. 
Labor  Organizations,  Labor  Disputes, 
and  Arbitration.     Railway  Labor. 
Industrial  Combinations  in  Europe. 
Final  Report  of  the  Industrial  Com- 
mission. 


The  recommendations  of  the  Commission  concern- 
ing needed  legislation  were  made  after  the  taking  of 
much  testimony,  the  hearing  of  experts  and  business 
men,  and  due  conference  and  discussion  among 
themselves.  The  wisdom  of  their  recommendations 
is  recognized  by  their  adoption  to  a  large  extent  and 
their  enactment  into  public  laws  by  subsequent 
Congresses. 

For  improvement  of  agriculture  and  protection  of 
the  public  health  the  chief  recommendations  were: 
the  extension  and  improvement  of  existing  laws  and 
governmental  machinery  for  the  inspection,  regula- 
tion, and  protection  of  animals  and  animal  products, 
grains,  fruits,  and  fruit  trees;  the  establishment  of  a 


r 


258  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

pure  food  section  in  the  chemistry  division  of  the 
Department  of  Agriculture,  to  prevent  adulteration 
and  imitation  of  foods;  the  better  protection  of 
domestic  animals  against  disease;  ample  protection  of 
the  beet  sugar  industry;  a  policy  of  national  road 
building,  with  extension  of  the  rural  postal  service;  a 
broad  and  generous  national  policy  to  promote 
forestry  and  establish  forest  preserves. 

For  improvement  in  transportation  the  Commis- 
sion recommended  supervision  and  control  by  the 
national  Government,  with  private  ownership. 

For  correcting  the  evils  of  trusts  and  industrial 
combinations:  publicity,  clear-cut  uniform  laws 
rigidly  enforced,  Federal  taxation  and  supervision. 
These  remedies  failing,  the  Commission  recom- 
mended a  Federal  Incorporation  Law. 

For  tariff  reform,  a  permanent  non-partisan  expert 
commission  to  investigate  and  study  tariff  problems. 

For  reclaiming  arid  lands,  a  policy  of  national 
irrigation. 

For  reform  in  taxation,  among  other  recom- 
mendations, was  the  following:  "That  the  States 
abandon  the  general  property  tax  and  raise  their 
revenues  by  taxes  upon  corporations,  inheritances, 
and  incomes,  supplemented  w^hen  necessary  by  in- 
direct taxation;  that  local  revenues  be  raised  by 
taxes  on  real  estate  and  personalty  under  the  general 
property -tax  system  as  at  present." 

To  this  recommendation  Tompkins  and  C.  J. 
Harris,  both  members  of  the  Commission  from 
North  Carolina,  made  the  following  dissent:  "We 
regard  recommendation  No.  1  as  too  new  and  not 
sufficiently  tried  in  practice  for  unqualified  recom- 
mendation under  all  conditions. 

"We  dissent  from  any  proposition  to  tax,  as  ia- 


U.  S.  INDUSTRLIL  COMIVIISSION  259 

come,  book  profits  of  individuals,  firms,  or  corpora- 
tions, except  such  as  may  be  retired  from  business, 
divided  or  declared  as  dividends,  for  the  following 
reasons : 

"The  determination  of  undivided  profits,  besides 
being  difficult,  would  submit  competitive  businesses 
to  injurious  exhibits  of  details,  would  unduly  con- 
strain business  men  to  report,  in  periods  of  depression, 
more  profits  than  made  in  order  to  sustain  credit, 
would  often  tax  apparent  profits  which  later  might 
have  shrunk  to  nothing;  and  for  other  reasons." 

For  control  of  immigration  the  Commission 
recommended  various  regulations,  including  "Re- 
newal and  continuance  of  the  Chinese  exclusion 
laws,  with  administrative  amendments  to  render 
these  laws  less  liable  to  evasion."  Tompkins 
objected  strongly  to  special  restrictions,  or  exclusion, 
aimed  at  particular  races  or  nations,  and  dissented 
from  the  above  recommendation  as  follows:  "For 
the  protection  of  American  civilization  and  American 
labor  it  seems  to  me  to  be  desirable  to  make  the 
general  immigration  laws  restrictive  of  all  immigra- 
tion that  would  seriously  threaten  to  injure  these. 

"Such  general  laws,  properly  formulated,  would 
exclude  all  undesirable  Chinese,  as  well  as  the  un- 
desirable of  all  other  nations,  without  the  necessity  of 
discrimination  against  China  or  any  other  country  as   / 
a  nation." 

The  most  difficult  problems  before  the  Commission 
were  those  relating  to  labor.  The  Commission,  at 
least  a  majority,  aimed  to  secure  uniformity  of 
labor  throughout  the  United  States;  laws  relating 
to  hours  of  work,  wages,  labor  organizations, 
strikes,  child  labor,  women,  convicts,  and  other 
factors.     The   report    of    the    Commission    on    this 


260  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

subject  was  a  review  of  the  evidence,  with  recom- 
mendations as  to  legislation.  To  this  report  were 
four  dissenting  opinions  signed  by  five  members  of 
the  Commission.  The  dissenting  opinion  of  Tomp- 
kins, signed  by  himself  and  C.  J.  Harris,  both  from 
^ North  Carolina,  was  as  follows:  "We  believe  that 
the  foregoing  review  of  evidence  as  it  stands  is,  for 
general  application,  too  much  in  the  nature  of  a 
theoretic  argument  in  favor  of  the  unrestricted  and 
uncontrolled  organization  of  special  classes  of  labor, 
and  mainly  relates  to  part  of  the  labor  engaged  in 
manufacturing,  transporting,  mining,  and  some  oc- 
cupations peculiar  to  large  cities. 

"We  apprehend  that  the  theories,  if  attempted  to 
be  carried  fully  into  practice,  might  lead  to  the 
development  of  powers  in  the  hands  of  special 
combinations  of  labor  which,  by  cooperation  with 
the  powers  of  special  combinations  of  capital,  could 
levy  tribute  upon  the  vast  body  of  other  labor  and 
all  consumers  for  the  benefit  of  the  capital  and  the 
labor  so  combined.  Statutory  laws  in  restraint  of 
violence  and  of  coercive  acts  against  the  rights  and 
liberties  of  others  should  be  maintained  and  enforced 
against  those  who  are  in  organizations,  as  well  as 
all  other  citizens  alike. 

"Organizations  of  labor,  when  the  members  are 
intelligent  and  when  controlled  by  good  motives  and 
good  men,  are  very  advantageous,  and  such  organiza- 
tions will  have  little  or  no  occasion  to  be  in  any  degree 
controlled  by  restraining  laws. 

"Other  organizations,  where  the  degree  of  in- 
telligence is  not  high,  as  in  the  case  of  many  immi- 
grants not  long  in  the  country,  and  not  in  sympathy 
with  the  personal  liberty  provided  by  our  institutions, 
where  the  motives  are  sometimes  bad  and  the  leaders 


U.  S.  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION  261 

sometimes  not  good  or  wise  men,  are  positively  in- 
jurious, and  it  seems  essential  that  those  who  are 
members  of  such  organizations  should  be  amenable 
to  wholesome  laws.  ^ 

"The  most  important  factors  influencing  and 
constraining  the  betterment  of  the  condition  of 
working  people  we  believe  to  be  as  follows:  ;^ 

"(1)  The  provision  of  ample  school  facilities.         y  /s 

*'(2)  Compulsory  education.  "^^    ' 

"(3)  The  maintenance  under  State  laws  of  co-  r^ 
operative  savings  institutions,  under  such  control 
and  restrictions  as  absolutely  to  insure  their  safety, 
and,  so  as  to  make  it  easy  for  members,  through 
these  institutions,  to  build  homes  and  pay  for  them 
by  instalments,  similar  to  the  cooperative  banks  of 
Massachusetts. 

"(4)  The  establishment  by  the  United  States 
Government  of  postal  savings  banks. 

"(5)  Liberal  provision  for  the  incorporation  of 
labor  organizations." 

Tompkins  was  opposed  to  Governmental  regula- 
tion of  labor,  regarding  it  as  unwise,  unnecessary, 
meddlesome,  and  injurious  both  to  labor  and  to 
capital.  He  was  a  disciple  of  Herbert  Spencer, 
believing  in  the  natural  evolution  of  good  results, 
unless  hindered  by  artificial  obstructions.  This 
theory  in  harmony  with  his  own  temperament  had 
been  impressed  on  his  mind  by  early  reading  of 
Spencer  and  confirmed  by  long  experience  as  laborer, 
capitalist,  employer,  and  manager  of  laborers.  He 
was  especially  opposed  to  uniformity  (or  attempted 
uniformity)  of  labor  regulations  in  a  country  as 
large  as  the  United  States,  where  variety  of  condi- 
tions and  occupations  and  climate  and  race  character- 
istics   and    varied    stages    of    wealth,   culture,   and 


262  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

progress  would  necessarily  produce  corresponding 
variations  in  wages,  hours,  and  conditions  of  labor. 
He  did  not  believe  that  Texas  and  Massachusetts, 
South  Carolina  and  Minnesota,  Maine  and  Florida, 
could,  or  should  have  the  same  labor  regulations. 
Such  a  miracle,  if  possible  in  the  future,  he  considered 
impossible  now.  The  attempt  to  work  it  he  regarded 
as  full  of  mischief,  a  meddlesome  interference,  and  an 
unnecessary  hindrance  of  natural  forces,  which 
were  already  working  as  rapidly  and  beneficently  as 
possible. 

As  a  cotton  mill  owner  and  manager  Tompkins  had 
built  mill  villages,  had  employed  as  mill  workers 
poor  white  families  who  hitherto  had  lived  in  one- 
room  cabins,  scantily  supplied  with  even  the  neces- 
saries of  life,  had  paid  them  each  month  more  money 
than  they  had  formerly  earned  in  a  whole  year,  had 
built  for  them  schools  and  churches,  had  supplied 
them  with  teachers  and  preachers,  had  encouraged 
and  helped  them  to  cultivate  gardens  and  beautify 
their  homes,  had  practised  on  them  his  favorite 
philanthropy  of  helping  mankind  by  helping  people 
to  help  themselves — and  now  to  be  invaded, 
attacked,  and  hindered  in  this  work  by  professional 
and  sentimental  agitators  and  philanthropists  was 
far  from  pleasing.  He  wrote  and  spoke  freely  on 
the  subject  before  mill  men,  mill  workers,  phi- 
lanthropists and  legislatures.  The  following  extracts 
will  illustrate  his  earnestness,  sincerity,  and  deep 
conviction : 


"professional  reformers" 

"Those  who  become  newly  interested  in  human 
betterment  work  rarely  appreciate  to  what  extent 


U.  S.  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION  263 

human  betterment  work  has  been  going  on  before 
their  interest.  At  first  bhish  it  always  looks  as 
though  monumental  reforms  should  be  and  could  be 
accomplished  immediately.  A  little  time  and  a 
little  experience  soon  reveal  the  fact  that  human 
betterment  is  surrounded  by  hindrances  and  diffi- 
culties multifold.  First  of  all,  it  is  generally  found 
that  most  of  the  things  one  would  do  immediately 
have  all  been  tried  by  capable  and  talented  people, 
and  that  most  of  the  things  one  would  wish  to  have 
done,  have  been,  and  are  still,  in  process  of  doing,  by 
natural  means  and  in  the  calm,  slow  way  which  nature 
has  provided  for  human  improvement. 

"It  transpires  that  too  much  reform  at  any  one 
time  means  not  evolution  but  revolution  with  per- 
plexing confusion  for  the  human  race.  It  transpires 
also  that  those  things  needing  reform  are  largely 
ignored  by  humanity  and  left  to  nature's  tender,  slow 
ways.  It  is  when  a  reform  is  well  under  way  of  ac- 
complishment that  the  professional  reformer  wants  to 
take  a  hand.  And  whenever  the  professional  re- 
former does  begin  to  take  a  hand,  the  betterment 
movement  gets  a  jolt  that  stops  its  growth  until  the 
forces  of  the  professional  reformer's  sentiments  and 
impatience  are  spent. 

"The  people  of  the  South  have  had  a  sort  of  satiety 
of  reform  since  the  Civil  War.  An  experiment  of 
reconstruction  was  tried  upon  them,  and  the  experi- 
ment lasted  about  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Our 
relations  with  the  colored  brother  were  sought  to  be 
wholly  changed;  and  decent  government  was  upset  in 
the  attempt  to  force  theoretic  ideas  of  what  the 
relations  ought  to  be.  Meanwhile,  the  personal 
relations  of  the  races  remained  the  same.  Natural 
means  continued  to  hold  their  own  in  determining  a 


264  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

question  that  nature  alone  stands  sponsor  for. 
Slavery  was  an  unholy  institution.  It  was  all  well 
and  good  for  the  laws  to  abolish  slavery,  but  the 
personal  and  social  relations  of  humanity  cannot  be 
legislated.  Legislation  undertaking  to  regulate  per- 
sonal and  social  relations  always  will  be  fruitless. 
There  was  never  a  better  subject  of  emotional  senti- 
ment than  the  colored  man.  No  human  thing  ever 
excited  so  much  emotional  sentiment  as  the  colored 
man  did  when  the  craze  was  on  about  the  colored 
man  and  his  relations.  The  very  color  of  his  skin 
made  him  a  subject  of  pity.  His  former  condition  of 
bondage  excited  emotions  in  his  favor.  None  ever 
said  to  him  that  he  must  be  self-reliant;  none  ever 
said  to  him  that  he  must  be  thrifty  and  economical 
and  industrious.  The  crusade  was  that  the  Southern 
white  man  must  carry  him  on  his  shoulders  and  make 
him  fulfil  all  the  emotional  expectations  of  those  who 
were  so  zealous  in  the  cause  of  his  betterment.  The 
condition  of  the  colored  man  has  been  immensely 
ameliorated  and  improved,  in  spite  of  emotional 
influences  which  have  hindered  the  progress  of  the 
work.  Slavery  being  abolished,  nothing  stands  in 
the  way  of  the  colored  man  any  more  than  of  the 
white  man,  and  the  colored  citizen  has  been  most 
improved  by  consultation  with  and  cooperation  with 
his  ancient  white  neighbor. 

"Now  comes  the  crusade  about  Child  Labor. 
Most  of  the  families  now  living  in  cotton  mill  villages 
in  the  South  formerly  lived  on  the  farms.  Cotton 
went  as  low  as  five  cents  a  pound,  which  meant  a  very 
scant  living  and  no  education.  As  mills  were  built  and 
drew  these  poor  farmers  from  agricultural  to  industrial 
work  it  was  recognized  that  in  the  cause  of  humanity, 
and  for  the  best  material  interest  of  the  mill,  children 


U.  S.  INDUSTRIAL  COIVIMISSION  265 

should  be  provided  with  means  of  education.  There 
is  hardly  a  mill  in  the  South  that  did  not  provide  this 
means  of  education,  and  where  the  State  did  any- 
thing at  all,  the  State's  work  was  supplemented  by 
school  extension,  paid  for  by  the  mill.  The  mills 
have  contributed  to  the  construction  of  churches,  to 
the  establishment  of  libraries,  and  the  organization  of 
other  betterment  work;  and  just  about  the  time  the 
progress  of  these  various  betterments  begins  to  at- 
tract attention  because  of  their  altruistic  character 
and  their  wonderful  success,  the  professional  re- 
former wants  to  take  a  hand,  and  is  taking  it  with  a 
vengeance.  The  professional  reformers  comprise 
many  well-meaning,  tender-hearted  women,  most  of 
whom  are  living  on  incomes  and  have  little  knowl- 
edge of  practical  life.  Also  of  men  and  women  who 
are  thirsty  for  notoriety.  These  hate  a  dull  time, 
and  wherever  they  go  there  is  bound  to  be  trouble. 
Then  there  is  the  grafter  pure  and  simple,  who  can 
collect  a  bigger  salary  in  the  name  of  charity,  pro- 
vided his  accounts  are  left  unchecked,  than  he  can 
get  for  doing  anything  else  where  the  measure  of 
his  work  is  reckoned  and  where  his  accounts  are 
checked. 

"Happily  the  real  welfare  of  the  children  of  the 
South  is  well  assured.  It  is  in  practical  hands. 
Movements  for  amelioration  and  betterment  are  so 
well  established  on  practical  lines  that  the  emo- 
tionalists, though  they  may  hinder  a  little,  cannot 
disestablish  the  good  practical  work. 

**It  is  always  a  pleasure  to  think  of  some  of  the 
wise  ways  of  Solomon.  When  the  two  women  went 
to  him,  each  claiming  to  be  the  mother  of  a  child  who 
was  the  subject  of  controversy,  the  old  King  ap- 
peared worried  as  to  how  to  decide  between  them. 


266  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

but  with  foxy  wisdom  he  proposed  to  cleave  the 
child  in  twain  and  give  each  woman  a  half.  Then  he 
discovered  who  the  real  mother  was  by  discovering 
which  one  would  give  up  the  child  rather  than  have  it 
slain.  It  is  so  with  the  children  of  this  day.  It 
would  be  better  if  every  child  could  have  an  ideal 
apprenticeship  and  ideal  education;  but,  in  the 
absence  of  all  that  we  want,  there  is  many  a  mother 
that  has  to  take  a  choice  between  two  alternatives. 
I  feel  confident  that  any  mother  would  choose  a 
condition  of  wholesome  work,  even  though  it  was  not 
altogether  the  kind  of  work  that  she  would  like  the 
child  to  do,  as  a  preference  over  idleness,  indulgence, 
and  surroundings  which  are  liable  to  turn  vicious. 

"I  repeat  that  betterment  conditions  are  extremely 
difficult.  I  assert  with  the  utmost  confidence  that, 
so  far  as  Southern  cotton  mills  are  concerned,  the 
average  of  the  conditions  is  as  good  as  can  at  present 
be  attained.  There  are  exceptions,  but  unhappily 
there  are  exceptions  to  all  good  things  as  an  aver- 
age proposition.  The  betterment  of  humanity  in 
Southern  cotton  mills  is  going  on  apace  about  as 
rapidly  as  the  humanity  is  capable  of  digesting  the 
opportunity. 

"Not  one  word  here  uttered  is  against  children. 
On  the  contrary,  my  every  thought  and  every  effort, 
when  I  come  in  contact  with  the  subject,  is  in  their 
favor.  I  am  brought  in  frequent  and  in  close  con- 
tact with  their  present  condition,  and  I  knew  their 
former  condition  well.  The  work  of  bringing  about 
their  betterment  must  be  rational,  and  must  fit  their 
present  condition.  Unconditional  exemption  from 
work  up  to  the  age  of  14,  15,  or  16  would  do  untold 
injury.  Even  at  ages  below  14,  besides  going  to 
school,  they  ought  to  be  required  to  do  a  certain 


U.  S.  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION  267 

amount  of  work  which  is  necessary  to  develop  them 
into  the  best  sort  of  men  and  women. 

"Much  of  human  improvement  must  necessarily 
be  brought  about  by  the  tendency  of  the  human  race 
itself  to  improve  and  go  forward.  The  field  of  the 
work  of  betterment  is  always  extending,  and  the 
number  of  workers  in  the  field  is  likewise  extending. 
The  real  workers  are  never  heard  much  of.  It  is  the 
agitator  that  looks  out  for  a  seat  on  the  band  wagon 
and  the  nearest  place  to  the  big  drum,  and  it  is  nat- 
urally he  or  she  that  is  most  seen  and  most  heard. 
Before  the  time  of  the  band  wagon  and  when  there 
was  nothing  but  conscientious  work,  the  agitator 
and  notoriety  seeker  were  not  in  evidence  and  they 
will  not  be  after  the  band  wagon  is  aboHshed.  When 
the  band  wagon  shall  have  disappeared,  the  old 
workers  will  still  be  the  workers,  and  the  altruistic 
labors  will  be  performed  as  of  yore,  and  while  the  work 
of  betterment  will  not  be  so  much  in  the  limelight 
as  it  is  to-day,  it  will  be  none  the  less  effective." 

Tompkins  was  chief  owner  and  president  of  three 
large  cotton  mills,  director  of  eight  mills,  and  stock- 
holder in  many  more.  His  chief  financial  interest 
was  in  cotton  manufactures,  an  interest  that  en- 
gaged his  best  thoughts  and  appealed  to  his  philan- 
thropic nature.  He  saw  in  the  cotton  mill  an 
opening  for  the  South  to  a  new  career,  an  open  door 
for  capable,  ambitious  Southern  lads. 

"The  cotton  mill,"  said  he,  "is  the  wide-open  door 
through  which  any  family,  even  those  of  the  most 
ordinary  natural  endowments,  may  find  a  way  from 
the  farm  to  manufacturing  pursuits,  or  other  fields 
of  skilled  labor.  Without  the  cotton  factory  the 
transition  would  be  in  many  cases  difficult.  The 
cotton  factory  naturally  retains  many  workers  of 


268  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

small  natural  endowments,  but  it  also  retains  many 
who  are  of  the  highest  natural  endowments.  The 
cotton  mill  offers  unlimited  opportunity,  and  the 
opportunity  offered  is  daily  being  availed  of  by  those 
who  are  capable  of  utilizing  it.  I  know  men  who 
have,  inside  a  decade,  utilized  these  opportunities 
to  change  their  condition  from  one  of  pinching  pov- 
erty to  one  of  independence  and  affluence. 

"If  ever  this  class  of  people  needed  special  help 
it  is  not  now.  Their  lives  were  led  in  hard  lines  when 
the  institution  of  slavery  was  the  controlling  influ- 
ence in  the  South,  and  also  in  the  period  of  reconstruc- 
tion that  followed  the  Civil  War,  when  all  the  white 
people  of  the  South  were  lined  in  solid  and  serried 
ranks  in  an  army  committed  to  the  defence  and  pres- 
ervation of  Anglo-Saxon  civilization.  But  it  is  a 
people  who  would  probably  have  refused  personal 
help,  or  any  sumptuary  patronage,  even  under  those 
circumstances.  Opportunity,  good  will,  and  favor- 
able environment  are  all  they  ever  wanted  and  all  that 
could  ever  have  been  of  any  avail  to  them.  Oppor- 
tunity and  good  will  and  favorable  environment 
they  now  have.  The  preservation  of  these  is  now 
the  one  thing  of  importance.  With  opportunity 
for  regular  work  and  with  regular  wages  in  cash,  these 
people  will  do  more  for  their  own  advancement  than 
could  ever  be  done  by  others  for  them. 

"  The  cotton  mill  operatives  in  the  South  are  mak- 
ing about  as  rapid  advance  as  any  humanity  in  their 
present  state  of  education  and  training  are  capable 
of  making.  The  employing  manufacturers  and  the 
home  people  cooperating  with  the  new  conditions 
are  furnishing  to  them  about  all  the  intellectual  and 
moral  training  they  are  capable  of  assimilating. 

"The  employer  and  employee  are  in  the  main  of 


U.  S.  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION  269 

the  same  blood,  in  many  instances  are  of  kin,  each 
generally  enjoys  the  confidence  of  the  other,  and  each 
has  full  faith  in  the  other.  By  this  confidence  and 
cooperation  the  best  progress  is  being  made.  Prog- 
ress is  being  made  step  by  step,  and  no  step  forward 
is  generally  undertaken  until  it  has  transpired  that 
the  people  are  prepared  for  it. 

Kindly  and  friendly  interest  is  welcomed  by  em- 
ployed and  employee  alike,  but  both  are  exceedingly 
averse  to  emotional  philanthropy  and  both  resent 
being  made  the  subject  of  agitators  and  notoriety 
seekers  in  the  name  of  philanthropy. 

"The  new  conditions  and  the  new  environment 
are  doing  more  than  all  human  effort  could  do. 
The  opportunity  to  help  themselves  is  what  has  been 
lacking  in  the  past.  The  opportunity  being  fully 
at  hand  it  may  safely  be  left  for  the  natural  initiative, 
energy,  and  ambition  of  the  people  to  work  out  their 
own  best  success.  In  doing  this  the  personal  friend- 
ship and  simple  friendly  interest  of  those  who  have 
had  better  advantages  will  be  valuable  and  will 
be  highly  appreciated.  Professional  philanthropy, 
in  which  a  sumptuary  influence  is  attempted,  will  be 
injurious,  and  would  be  resented  even  at  a  sacrifice." 

The  story  of  the  South 's  poverty  and  humiliation, 
of  its  fight  for  existence,  of  its  redemption  from  disin- 
tegration and  anarchy,  is  told  again  and  again  by 
Tompkins  in  books,  pamphlets,  speeches,  and  news- 
paper articles.  He  knew  it  well,  for  he  was  a  factor 
in  it  all.  He  was  happy  and  proud  to  be  a  factor 
in  the  rebuilding  of  the  South  and  the  elevation  of  the 
Southern  poor  white  laborer.  This  noble  feeling 
he  imparted  to  his  family,  his  kindred,  and  his  friends. 

His  youngest  sister  was  a  teacher  in  one  of  his  mill 
schools.     Both  he  and  she  were  proud  of  her  work. 


270  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

Each  month  she  sent  him  careful  reports  of  the  school 
work  and  progress:  the  number  of  pupils  enrolled, 
the  average  attendance,  the  ages  and  sexes  of  the 
pupils,  the  subjects  taught,  and  the  proficiency 
attained.  A  bundle  of  these  reports,  carefully  pre- 
served, was  found  after  his  death  among  his  private 
papers,  one  of  his  treasures,  a  token  of  the  work  of 
his  youngest  sister  in  helping  the  mill  people,  a  token, 
too,  of  his  desire  to  educate  her  into  sympathy  with 
and  appreciation  of  mill  workers.  He  was  fitting 
her  to  be  a  just  and  sympathetic  mill  owner. 

Tompkins  resented  the  idea  of  charity  for  Southern 
mill  workers.  The  whole  South  was  indeed  deserving 
of  charity,  but  it  did  not  ask  it  and  would  not  receive 
it. 

"It  is  the  truth,"  said  Tompkins,  "that  the  con- 
dition of  all  Southern  white  folks  was  in  sore  need 
of  amelioration  during  the  so-called  reconstruction 
period.  Deplorable  as  was  the  condition  of  the  white 
working  man  and  his  children  of  that  day,  the  most 
enduring  hardships  of  the  time  were  borne  by  those 
who  had  not  formerly  been  working  people.  During 
that  period  everybody  was  poor.  All  white  folks 
had  to  join  on  one  level  of  poverty  to  make  a  scant 
living  with  the  left  hand  while  the  right  hand  was 
vigorously  engaged  in  the  defense  of  Christian  civil- 
ization. The  fight  was  with  the  dragon.  If  the 
South  routed  and  survived  the  dragon  of  that  day 
surely  she  will  survive  the  horse-fly  of  this  modern  day. 

"In  the  redemption  of  the  South  from  the  semi- 
anarchy  of  reconstruction  there  were  hindering  in- 
fluences and  helpful  influences.  Among  the  hindering 
influences  were  the  misguiding  of  the  negro  by  some 
who  believed  they  were  governed  by  philanthropic 
motives  and  by  others  who  loved  disorder  and  theft. 


U.  S.  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION  271 

"Some  of  the  helpful  influences  were  the  all  but 
unanimous  cooperation  of  the  whites  against  dis- 
order, for  the  establishment  of  factories  with  cash 
pay  rolls  for  working  people,  and  liberal  help  by 
Northern  machine  builders  and  merchants  in  the  way 
of  credits. 

"The  real  story  of  rescue  is  one  of  Southern  pa- 
tience and  courage  and  of  sympathetic  social  and 
commercial  support  from  sane  and  rational  men  and 
women  of  the  North." 

The  following  account  of  the  Atherton  mills  owned 
and  managed  by  Tompkins  is  taken  from  an  article 
by  Leonora  Beck  Ellis,  "A  Study  of  Southern  Cotton 
Mill  Communities,"  published  in  The  Criterion: 
"The  xUherton  Mill  community,  just  outside  of 
Charlotte,N.C.,  is  a  well-situated,  well-housed,  and 
prosperous-looking  village  of  a  thousand  souls.  The 
mill  itself  is  relieved  of  the  commonplace  utility 
look  by  a  picturesque  growth  of  ivy,  such  as  might 
grace  an  old  English  cathedral.  The  neat  white 
cottages  all  have  small  vegetable  and  flower  gardens, 
which  are  usually  well  kept,  the  result  of  a  system  of 
prizes  offered  by  President  D.  A.  Tompkins  to  the 
most  successful  gardeners.  Up  to  about  two  and 
a  half  years  ago  the  children  of  the  community  were 
left  to  find  places  in  the  municipal  schools  of  Char- 
lotte or  the  district  schools  near  by.  But  in  spite  of 
all  his  progressive  management  in  other  directions, 
President  Tompkins,  who  is  widely  known  as  one 
of  the  most  successful  mill  men  North  or  South, 
found  something  still  lacking.  Nor  was  he  slow  to 
locate  the  desideratum.  When  I  visited  the  com- 
munity a  year  ago  I  found  they  had  a  new  and  com- 
fortable school  building,  which  is  the  gift  of  the  man- 
agers, and  is  to  serve  also  as  the  people's  hall  for  all 


272  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

legitimate  gatherings,  literary,  social,  or  otherwise. 
I  found  the  school  evolving  with  good  promise. 
County  and  mill  management  had  already  joined 
financial  forces  to  make  the  term  nine  months  an- 
nually. One  hundred  and  ten  pupils  from  the  homes 
of  the  operatives  were  being  conscientiously  taught  by 
two  teachers — one,  sister  of  the  mill  president." 

Similar  conditions  existed  in  the  mills  of  the  Edge- 
field Manufacturing  Company,  Edgefield,  S.  C, 
of  which  Tompkins  was  president. 

The  mill  at  High  Shoals  was  even  more  favored 
with  schools,  churches,  parks,  playgrounds,  gardens, 
lawns,  and  other  instrumentalities  of  health,  comfort, 
culture,  and  pleasure.  This  mill  was  an  object  of 
great  favor  and  pride  w^ith  Tompkins.  It  aroused 
in  him  a  deep  sentimental  interest ,  for  it  was  built  on 
the  ruins  of  a  former  rolling  mill  which  had  flourished 
here  for  fifty  years  until  wrecked  by  the  baleful 
influences  of  slavery.  Tompkins  published  and 
widely  circulated  a  handsome  album  with  half-tone 
pictures  of  High  Shoals,  showing  the  falls  and  water 
power  unused  in  1750,  the  rolling  mills  in  1800,  the 
ruins  of  same  in  1850,  and  the  new  cotton  mills  in 
1900.  This  album  was  sent  to  newspapers  through- 
out the  South.  The  Baltimore  News  comments  as 
follows:  "Mr.  D.  A.  Tompkins  of  Charlotte,  N.  C, 
who  has  been  one  of  the  foremost  men  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  South,  has  had  printed  four  half-tone 
pictures  of  High  Shoals,  in  that  State.  At  this  point 
is  located  one  of  the  cotton  mills  in  which  Mr.  Tomp- 
kins is  interested,  and  he  uses  the  pictures,  covering 
a  period  from  1750  up  to  the  present  time,  as  illus- 
trating the  eft'ect  of  slavery  on  the  manufacturing 
interests  of  the  South.  Mr.  Tompkins  is  an  ardent 
believer  in  the  future  of  the  South,  and  especially 


U.  S.  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION  273 

of  his  own  State  of  North  Carolina.  He  points  to 
the  fact  that  North  Carolina  passed  Massachusetts 
in  growth,  although  Massachusetts  had  the  start. 
Massachusetts,  in  turn,  passed  North  Carolina  only 
after  the  energies  of  the  Old  North  State  became 
paralyzed  by  the  institution  of  slavery.  Mr.  Tomp- 
kins' pictures  bear  out  his  theory  that  the  desiccating 
effects  of  slavery  having  worn  off,  the  physical  and 
human  resources  of  the  State  are  now  beginning 
to  reassert  themselves,  and  that  it  is  only  a  matter 
of  time  when  North  Carolina  will  again  overtake  the 
great  New  England  Commonwealth." 

The  agitation  for  child  labor  legislation  especially 
aroused  Tompkins.  He  believed  thoroughly  in  the 
early  training  of  children  for  work  and  by  means 
of  actual  work.  He  placed  his  own  nephew  at  an 
early  age  as  an  apprentice  in  machine  shops  and  as  a 
worker  in  cotton  mills,  in  order  to  fit  him  to  be  a 
competent  mill  superintendent  and  an  intelligent 
mill  owner.  He  wrote  and  spoke  on  this  subject 
for  many  years,  advocating  trade  schools  and  ap- 
prentice systems  in  the  great  cities  and  in  all  manufac- 
turing communities.  His  address  before  the  Na- 
tional Civic  League,  New  York  City,  December, 
1906,  may  be  taken  as  representing  the  best  thought 
and  best  purpose  of  Southern  mill  men  in  opposing 
national  child  labor  legislation.  It  also  sets  forth 
the  favorite  theory  of  Tompkins  as  to  practical 
education  and  early  preparation  for  life-work. 

CHILD    LABOR* 

"As  this  discussion  progresses,  it  becomes  more 
and  more  evident  that  we  have  a  difficult  and  import- 

•An  address  before  the  Civic  Federation,  New  York,  December.  1906. 


274  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

ant  subject.  I  shall  speak  with  reference  to  that 
phase  of  the  subject  which  relates  to  conditions  in 
Southern  cotton  mills.  It  is  important  that  some 
of  the  antecedent  conditions  vrhich  existed  in  the 
South  be  understood,  in  order  that  we  may  appreciate 
what  is  novv'  going  on  in  the  present  conditions. 
You  all  know  about  the  Civil  War,  and  you  have  in 
your  minds  that  its  end  was  a  calamity  for  the  South. 
But  the  most  thoughtful  of  Southern  people  do  not 
believe  that  the  calamity  was  unalloyed.  The 
Civil  War  ended  the  institution  of  slavery;  and  if  the 
poverty  that  came  was  a  calamity,  the  abolition  of 
slavery  was  in  turn  a  sufficient  benefit  to  balance  it. 
[Applause.]  But  we  had  a  subsequent  period  of  so- 
called  *  reconstruction,'  which  w^as  a  calamity  such 
as  never  before  was  borne  by  a  Christian  people, 
in  which  poverty  became  greater  and  conditions  more 
dark  than  that  in  the  time  of,  or  as  a  consequence 
of,  the  Civil  War  itself.  Through  a  period  of  almost 
twenty  years  succeeding  the  war  the  white  people 
of  the  South  sacrificed  all  else  in  the  fight  for  Chris- 
tian civilization;  and  while  carrying  on  that  fight 
there  was  no  question  of  wealth,  nor  of  anything  but 
**hog  and  hominy"  and  "bacon  and  greens"  to 
live  upon.  In  that  time  one  hand  was  on  the  plow, 
while  the  other  had  to  be  held  upon  the  sword.  It 
was  a  twenty-years'  war,  and  out  of  it  everybody 
came  in  absolute  poverty.  Every  man,  woman,  and 
child  in  the  South  was  a  veteran  of  that  war.  The 
beginning  of  the  cotton  mill  construction  was  the 
end  of  that  period,  about  1865-85;  and  this  construc- 
tion work  has  gone  forward  as  a  beneficence  not 
alone  for  the  owner,  but  for  the  operator;  not  alone 
for  the  owners  and  the  operators,  but  for  the  farmer, 
who  in  the  period  of  fake  reconstruction  saw  cotton 


r.  S.  INDUSTRIAL  COMI^HSSION  275 

go  from  fifty  cents  down  to  five  cents  a  pound,  and 
had  to  live  upon  that.  To-day  the  cost  of  making 
cotton  is  eight  cents  a  pound;  and  it  is  selling,  hap- 
pily, at  twelve  cents.  The  extremely  hard  condition 
of  having  to  live  upon  the  proceeds  of  cotton  at 
five  cents  was  relieved  by  the  construction  of  cotton 
mills;  and  the  farmer  himself  has  begun  to  prosper 
simply  because  the  cotton  mill  operatives  have  gotten 
out  of  competition  with  him  on  the  farm.  With 
the  construction  of  the  cotton  mills  began  the  ameli- 
oration of  the  condition  of  the  people  who  worked  on 
farms  and  also  of  the  mill  operatives.  That  amelio- 
ration has  continued  to  the  present  time,  until  now 
we  are  just  beginning  to  see  the  light  of  the  beginning 
of  a  new  day.  Some  gentleman  asked  what  ought 
the  child  committee  to  have  done.^  What  is  recom- 
mended? What  is  our  duty?  ]lVs  a  Southern  cotton  u 
mill  man  can  see  it,  I  answer :  The  mill  managements 
having  established,  or  extended,  schools,  having 
worked  year  after  year  for  a  compulsory  educational 
law,  having  increased  wages  fifty  to  seventy-five 
per  cent.,  and  having  brought  what  seems  to  us  all 
in  the  South  great  prosperity  (certainly  great  by 
comparison  with  former  times)  out  of  conditions  of 
deepest  poverty,  we  feel  that  we  ought  to  be  allowed 
to  go  on  in  that  same  course.  I  am  not  one  who  be- 
lieves that  we  can  do  beneficient  things  altogether 
by  law.  Every  Southern  cotton  mill  man  is  bringing 
conditions,  as  fast  as  he  knows  how,  to  that  point 
which  is  desired  by  those  who  wish  to  see  the  age 
limit  for  the  work  of  children  up  to  fifteen  years  at 
least.  I  know  that  that  is  my  sentiment;  but  I  don't 
believe  we  should  undertake  to  do  it  arbitrarily  and 
at  once.  We  should  continue  to  build  up  the  educa- 
tional forces,  the  social  forces,  and  the  financial  con- 


27G  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

dition  as  in  the  past.  I  prefer  compulsory  education 
to  child  labor  legislation,  by  which  we  will  avoid  ex- 
clusive laws,  which  are  always  liable  to  become  sump- 
tuary and  interfere  with  the  liberty  of  the  individual. 

"We  do  not  need  any  law  on  the  subject  of  night 
work,  because  night  work  is  almost  at  an  end,  and 
will  be  at  an  end  at  a  very  early  date,  in  consequence 
of  the  influences  which  are  already  at  work,  some  of 
w^hich  are  economic  and  some  of  which  are  altruistic! 
In  one  business  in  which  I  am  engaged,  which  is  the 
machine  business — I  am  engaged  in  the  cotton  manu- 
facture and  in  the  machine  business — in  the  machine 
business  we  have  developed  a  system  of  apprentice- 
ship in  which  we  do  not  want  to  limit  the  age  of  the 
apprentice  to  be  as  high  as  sixteen,  but  we  particu- 
larly desire  that  they  be  brought  to  us  at  twelve. 
That  is  not  for  the  purpose  of  working  them  for 
profit,  but  it  is  for  the  purpose  of  education.  Our 
latest  contract  requires  that  the  apprentice  shall 
go  to  school  six  months  in  the  year  and  then  he  may 
work  four  months  in  the  machine  shop  ten  hours  a 
day.  This  young  apprentice's  work  consists  in  wait- 
ing upon  the  machinists.  He  gets  waste  for  them 
and  takes  their  tools  to  the  blacksmith  shop  for  repair 
and  does  other  errands  and  light  work.  We  are 
considering  putting  it  in  the  contract  that  he  must 
spend  one  month  of  the  year  in  the  country,  and  we 
expect  to  pay  the  board  on  the  farm  of  those  whose 
parents  cannot  afford  it. 

"As  long  as  men  are  greedy  men  there  will  be 
need  ultimately  of  some  law  to  set  a  limit  to  the 
overwork  of  children  which  cannot  be  eliminated 
by  better  motives.  And  also  as  long  as  there  are 
tender-hearted  women,  there  will  be  sentiments 
that  are  liable  to  injure  children,  as  the  tender  mother 


U.  S.  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION  277 

so  often  spoils  the  child.  I  believe  there  are  just 
about  as  many  children  spoiled  by  indulgence  as 
there  are  by  overwork."     [Laughter  and  applause.] 

A  Voice:  "More." 

Mr.  Tompkins:  "A  gentleman  here  says  more,  and 
I  agree  with  him  perfectly. 

A  Voice:  "He  has  no  children."     [Laughter.] 

Mr.  Tompkins:  "He  looks  like  a  father  [Laughter] 
but  whether  that  be  true  or  not,  two  facts  remain: 
As  long  as  there  are  greedy  men,  we  have  got  to 
protect  children  from  overwork  by  them;  and  as  long 
as  there  are  people  of  excessively  tender  hearts,  we 
must  do  the  best  we  can  to  protect  children  from 
excessive  indulgence. 

"I  can  recollect  the  first  time  I  ever  went  'possum 
hunting  and  stayed  all  night.  When  I  got  back  in 
the  morning  my  mother  was  in  a  great  state  of 
mind  and  wanted  to  know  where  I  had  been.  I 
told  her  'In  the  woods,  hunting  'possums.'  'Didn't 
you  sleep  any.^'  'Oh,  yes,  we  raked  up  some  leaves 
and  built  a  fire  and  slept  from  11  o'clock  until  four. 
The  darkies  said  the  'possums  would  be  walking 
about  4  o'clock.'  'Well;  you  slept  out  there  with  the 
negroes.^'  'Wliy,  certainly,  yes,  that  was  not  the 
worst  of  it,  the  dogs  were  in  the  bunch  also.'  [Laugh- 
ter.] There  is  a  great  deal  that  a  boy  wants  to  do 
and  is  bound  to  do  that  we  worry  ourselves  about 
unnecessarily.  There  is  a  lot  of  this  child  labor 
talk  based  upon  misconception  of  the  subject  very 
much  as  the  hen  misconceived  the  situation  of  her 
young  ducks  in  the  water.  Light  work,  in  my  opin- 
ion, is  not  bad  for  children,  but,  on  the  contrary,  it  is 
good  for  them  and  we  ought  to  take  them  earlier, 
determine  upon  an  apprenticeship,  as  I  have  en- 
deavored to  do  in  my  machine  shop,  and  incorporate 


278  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

with  their  education  an  early  knowledge  of  what 
work  is.  [Applause  and  voices:  "That's  right,  that's 
right."] 

"This  matter  of  looking  after  the  welfare  of  human- 
ity and  its  education  has  been  carried  by  Germany 
much  farther  than  it  has  been  by  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  In  their  common  schools,  when  the 
child  reaches  ten  years  of  age,  it  is  desired  that  it  be 
determined  what  the  child  is  going  to  do,  what  sort 
of  education  that  child  is  going  to  have;  and  for  those 
who  w^ill  be  engaged  in  industrial  pursuits,  the  fur- 
ther education  is  not  differentiated  with  respect  to 
scholastic  and  technical  teaching,  but  in  many  cases 
it  is  required  in  addition  that  a  certain  amount  of 
manual  training  shall  be  done,  not  from  12  years  of 
age  or  14,  or  15,  but  from  10 — and  I  am  right  with 
the  Dutch  in  their  ideas  about  the  proper  way  to 
educate  children.     [Laughter.] 

"One  diflficulty  I  find  in  handling  an  apprentice 
system  in  a  machine  shop  is  that  a  lady  will  come  to 
me — a  mother  or  an  aunt — with  a  fine  fellow  that 
she  wants  to  have  learn  the  machine  business,  and 
when  I  ask  *How  old  is  he.^'  the  reply  often  is:  *19 
years  old.'  *Well,'  I  have  to  answer,  'he  is  too  old; 
you  ought  to  have  brought  him  when  he  was  12.' 

"The  subject  is  the  more  difficult  because  we  can- 
not make  rules.  If  I  do  not  need  laws  in  the  machine 
shop,  it  is  because  the  boys  that  I  deal  with  have  al- 
ready been  so  educated  by  home  training  and  practi- 
cal teaching  that  it  makes  laws  unnecessary.  I 
couldn't  abuse  those  boys  if  I  wanted  to,  my  own 
shop  would  revolt;  the  journeymen  would  revolt. 
In  the  cotton  mill  business  I  desire  to  see  the  least 
possible  legislation,  that  is  liable  to  become  sump- 
tuary, and  infinitely  more  attention  to  the  subject 


U.  S.  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION  279 

of  raising  the  social  and  moral  condition  of  this  whole 
people.  If  we  could  get  a  little  more  help  from  the 
child  labor  committee  or  anybody  else  on  the  phase 
of  the  work  of  betterment,  it  would  be  very  highly 
appreciated  and  would  be  useful,  whereas  in  many 
cases  the  agitation  is  doing  positive  injury,  neglecting 
altogether,  as  the  agitators  do,  consideration  of  what 
we  are  going  to  do  with  the  child  when  legislated 
out  of  the  mills,  out  of  one  of  the  easiest  occupations 
that  could  be  found  and  from  a  condition  in  which 
he  has  already  been  rapidly  advanced. 

"Mr.  Smyth  here  has  a  fine  school  at  Pelzer.  He 
has  a  library  and  a  reading  room  and  every  facility 
that  a  city  could  give  for  the  betterment  of  the  opera- 
tives in  Pelzer  town. 

"In  the  course  of  time  we  will  elevate  this  calling 
of  spinning  and  weaving.  At  present,  most  people 
think  of  those  employed  in  the  cotton  mill  business 
as  bemg  employed  in  a  place  in  which  common  white 
cloth  is  woven  and  laboriously  turned  out  without 
the  exercise  of  a  particle  of  brains — and  unhappily  it 
is  too  much  that  way— but  the  more  profitable  busi- 
ness will  always  carry  it  toward  a  better  understand- 
ing of  what  the  production  of  better  fabric  is.  When 
our  textile  work  people  come  to  an  appreciation  that 
weaving  is  an  art  which  can  be  carried  as  high  as  any 
of  the  arts,  not  only  in  the  production  of  well-designed 
carpets  and  fine  carpets  and  in  the  production  of  well- 
designed  lace  curtains,  but  of  fabrics  even  finer 
than  those,  and  ultimately  of  tapestries  which  are 
works  of  art,  why  should  we  think  so  much  about 
legrslation  that  is. liable  to  become  too  soon  sumptu- 
ary and  interfere  with  the  higher  development  of 
which  I  speak. 

"Dr.  Joseph  LeConte,  one-time  profe^oor  of  chem- 


280  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

istry  in  the  South  Carohna  college,  and  later  profes- 
sor of  geology  in  the  University  of  California,  said 
that  the  highest  attribute  of  the  white  race  was  its 
capacity  for  training,  both  physical  and  mental. 
[Cries  of  "hear,  hear."]  Christian  civilization  is 
founded  upon  the  fact  contained  in  Doctor  LeConte's 
statement  that  the  white  race  can  carry  its  training 
farther  than  that  of  any  other  and  maintain  it  longer. 
The  extent  to  which  it  may  be  carried  is  practically 
unlimited. 

"\Miatever  we  do  in  the  way  of  legislation  against 
child  labor  for  profit,  let  us  not  forget  that  we  have 
a  large  duty  to  see  that  the  child  w^hen  legislated  out 
of  the  mill  shall  not  be  left  wholly  idle  and  untrained, 
but  be  mindful  to  provide  enough  w^ork  in  school  and 
in  some  apprenticeship  condition  to  develop  a  de- 
cently trained  and  educated  man  or  woman,  and  with 
these  conditions,  raise  the  age  of  labor  for  profit  to 
15  or  16  years.  [Applause  and  cries  of  *'hear,  hear."] 
Instead  of  enacting  laws  which  totally  expel  children 
from  that  training  so  essential  to  their  better  develop- 
ment as  men  and  women,  let  us  leave  the  way  wide 
open  for  both  teaching  and  training — each  in  proper 
proportion;  and  so  make  our  laws  as  to  stimulate 
mental  and  physical  training  in  proper  degree  while 
in  childhood  and  youth.  It  is  in  the  period  of  child- 
hood and  youth  that  the  faculty  of  mental  and 
physical  development  may  be  made  most  fruitful  of 
permanent  results.  Eight  years  used  to  be  consid- 
ered a  tender  age  for  the  child  to  start  to  school. 
Now  the  cry  of  the  teacher  is  to  get  the  child  younger, 
and  it  is  not  uncommon  to  see  three-year-old  infants 
regularly  enrolled  in  the  kindergarten.  By  this 
means  the  child  may  be  brought  at  eight  years  to  a 
fair  degree  of  elementary  education;  and  under  proper 


U.  S.  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION  281 

care  the  child  is  strengthened  both  physically  and 
mentally.  It  transpires  that  the  welfare  of  children 
means  decreasing  the  school  age  and  not  increasing 
it. 

"  As  in  school,  so  I  believe  it  should  be  in  the  factory. 
The  practical  training  should  be  begun  while  the 
pupil  is  yet  young.  It  should,  of  course,  be  guarded 
at  every  point,  to  prevent  the  use  of  the  child  as  a 
laborer  for  profit  up  to  as  high  as  15  or  16  years, 
but  work  in  the  capacity  of  apprentice  should  begin 
earlier  rather  than  later  in  life.  I  have  thought 
that  the  following  graded  schedule  of  apprenticeship 
work  and  school  attendance  might  well  be  authorized 
and  controlled  by  law  for  boys  and  girls  in  textile 
pursuits :  ^ 

"  From  1 1  to  12  years,  three  months'  work  in  a  textile 
factory  may  be  allowed  but  only  after  attendance 
at  school  for  six  months. 

"From  12  to  13  years,  four  m.onths'  work  in  a 
textile  factory  may  be  allowed,  but  only  after  attend- 
ance at  school  for  six  months. 

"From  13  to  14  years,  five  months'  work  in  a  tex- 
tile factory  may  be  allowed,  but  only  after  attend- 
ance at  school  five  months. 

"From  14  to  15  years,  seven  m.onths'  work  in  a 
textile  factory  may  be  allowed,  but  only  after  attend- 
ance at  school  for  three  months. 

"From  15  to  16  years,  ten  months'  work  in  a  textile 
factory  may  be  allowed,  but  only  after  attendance 
at  school  for  two  months. 

"But  what  is  the  use  of  the  law  without  first  de- 
veloping the  system?  I  state  as  a  fact  that  the 
system  is  well  under  way  in  the  Southern  cotton 
mills,  and  that  it  has  been  under  way  since  the  first 
mill  was  built  after  the  Civil  War;  and  that  better- 


282  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

ment  is  progressing  to-day  in  Southern  mill  towns  at  a 
rate  greater  than  the  educational  system  of  New  York 
.City". 

A  Voice:  "That  isn't  saying  very  much." 
Mr.  Tompkins:  "The  gentleman  says  that  is  not 
saying  very  much.  [Laughter.]  Now  what  we 
want  is  not  controversy.  It  does  not  matter  whether 
the  figures  that  have  been  given  by  magazine  and 
platform  reformers  are  correct  or  not;  it  matters  not 
whether  a  picture  of  a  loom  has  been  published  show- 
ing a  bedraggled  child  at  it,  when  no  child  ever  did 
work  at  a  loom  either  in  this  time  or  any  other  time. 
From  time  immemorial  it  has  been  the  custom  in  the 
family  for  the  young  married  woman  to  do  the  spin- 
ning and  for  the  elders  to  do  the  weaving.  That  is 
where  some  of  you  ladies  got  your  name  of  spinster. 
[Laughter.]  To-day,  as  of  yore,  the  younger  people 
do  the  spinning  and  the  elders  do  the  weaving.  A 
child  cannot  weave,  and  therefore  the  picture  is  to- 
tally misleading.  Some  of  the  figures  that  I  have 
had  in  my  hand  were  quoted  by  Capt.  Smyth,  and 
some  of  the  figures  which  were  made  by  the  child 
labor  committee  have  been  taken  back,  or  so  modi- 
fied, that  I  do  not  think  there  are  many  figures  left 
to  argue  about.  But  the  Southern  cotton  mill  men 
want  to  have  you  realize  that  we  believe  that  we  are 
doing  right.  The  effort  to  help  the  operatives  began 
at  a  time  when  everybody  in  the  South  was  on  ab- 
solutely the  same  level  of  poverty.  Leaders  were 
not  elected  but  were  chosen  by  a  process  of  natural 
selection,  as  in  the  days  of  reconstruction,  when  the 
man  on  horseback  led  because  he  was  the  right  man 
for  the  place.  Immediately  after  the  reconstruction 
anarchy  was  ended,  the  man  who  undertook  to  build 
a  cotton  factory  was  simply  put  forward  many  times 


U.  S.  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION  283 

without  his  consent,  to  help  to  do  the  most  promising 
thing  looking  to  ameliorating  the  condition  of  the 
people  in  the  country.  The  warm  ties  of  friendship 
and  affection  and  love,  which  had  been  generated 
during  the  period  of  reconstruction  and  poverty 
and  equality,  made  every  man  desirous  of  doing  as 
much  for  his  operatives  as  for  himself.  In  this  work 
of  real  reconstruction  there  came  from  unexpected 
sources  much  help,  and  it  is  to  the  eternal  credit  of 
the  New  England  machinery  builders  that  they 
gave  liberal  and  long  credit;  and  it  was  largely  upon 
the  basis  of  that  help  that  a  beginning  was  made  and 
that  success  has  been  brought  out  of  an  industrial 
development,  and  will  continue  to  be  brought  to  a 
still  larger  growth  for  the  infinite  betterment  of  the 
humanity  of  the  South  and  the  Nation."  [Great 
applause.] 


CHAPTER  XVI 

APOSTLE       OF       PATRIOTISM FOURTH       OF       JULY 

SPEECH    AT    GASTONIA THE    SOLID    SOUTH 

NATIONAL   EXPANSION 

WHEN  I  was  teaching  in  the  mill  village  of 
the  Edgefield  Manufacturing  Company,  of 
which  my  brother  was  president,"  says  Mrs. 
Grace  Tompkins  Ennett,  "he  sent  me  pamphlets, 
which  he  had  published  himself,  with  all  the  patriotic 
songs,  and  requested  that  I  teach  them  to  the  chil- 
dren and  have  them  sing  them  every  day.  These 
songs  were:  America,  The  Battle  Hymn  of  the  Re- 
public, The  Blue  and  the  Gray,  Columbia  the 
Gem  of  the  Ocean,  Dixie,  Hail  Columbia,  Maryland, 
The  Old  North  State,  The  Star-Spangled  Banner, 
and  Yankee  Doodle. 

He  was  very  anxious  that  we  float  the  national 
flag  over  every  school  in  which  I  taught,  and  asked 
me  to  do  all  possible  to  teach  the  children  that  it  was 
their  flag,  and  train  them  to  reverence  and  love  their 
country.  He  asked  me  to  start  the  fashion  of  cele- 
brating July  4th  in  Edgefield,  and  always  to  stand 
by  the  thought  that  Washington  and  Jefferson  and 
most  of  the  founders  of  the  Union  were  from  the 
South,  and  that  we  had  as  much  cause  for  pride  in 
the  Nation  as  any  other  section." 

The  political  chasm  which  for  half  a  century  had 
separated  North  and  South  seemed  as  wide  and  deep 
in  1902  as  fifty  years  before.     The  solid  South  was 

284. 


APOSTLE  OF  PATRIOTISM  285 

apparently  the  only  everlasting,  indestructible, 
thoroughly  dependable  factor  in  American  politics. 
This  condition  was  a  source  of  deep  grief  and  trouble 
to  Tompkins,  who  considered  it  not  only  a  menace 
to  our  institutions  but  a  hindrance  and  obstruction 
to  Southern  industrial  progress.  Prilled  with  this 
belief  and  inspired  by  deep  love  both  of  the  Union 
and  of  the  South,  he  used  every  opportunity,  and 
made  opportunities,  to  create  in  the  North  a  better 
understanding  of  the  South,  and  to  revive  in  the 
South  its  old-time  love  of  the  Union. 

His  4th  of  July  oration  at  Gastonia,  probably  the 
greatest  of  all  his  speeches,  is  a  fine  picture  of  his 
double  love,  a  noble  plea  for  a  new  South,  forgetting 
slavery  and  remembering  the  Union.  It  deserves  to 
be  published  by  every  Southern  State  government 
and  distributed  among  the  public  schools,  to  be  read 
before  the  pupils  each  4th  of  July.  '^^  ff 

^  ♦ 

FOURTH  OF  JULY  ADDRESS  AT  GASTONIA 

"The  occasion  which  we  celebrate  on  July  4th  is 
the  Declaration  of  American  Independence  and  the 
founding  of  a  new  nation.  These  events  should  be 
peculiarly  dear  to  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  the 
South  because  of  the  prominent  and  active  participa- 
tion of  Southern  men  in  severing  the  old  political 
ties,  in  the  successful  conduct  of  the  Revolutionary 
War,  which  was  already  begun  when  the  Declaration 
was  made,  and  in  the  establishment  of  a  Federal 
government  after  the  war. 

"The  first  motion  made  in  the  Colonial  Congress 
looking  to  the  independence  of  the  colonies  was 
proposed  by  Lee,  of  Virginia.  This  motion  being 
favorably  acted  upon,  a  committee  was  appointed 


286  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

to  draft  a  suitable  declaration  of  independence.  Mr. 
Thomas  Jefferson,  of  Virginia,  was  made  chairman  of 
this  committee,  and  became  the  author  of  the 
Declaration,  which  we  have  come  here  to-day  to 
celebrate. 

"In  the  war,  which  had  begim  before  the  Declara- 
tion and  which  continued  after  it,  George  Washing- 
ton, of  Virginia,  was  made  commanding  general;  and 
when  the  Federal  Government  was  formed,  with  the 
name  *the  United  States  of  America,'  George 
Washington,  of  Virginia,  was  selected  to  be  the  head 
of  the  new  nation. 

"Thus  the  most  casual  observation  shows  that  the 
events  which  are  annually  celebrated  by  the  Ameri- 
can people,  on  July  4th,  were  to  a  very  large  extent 
brought  about  by  Southern  men;  hence,  in  the  natural 
order  of  things,  the  day  should  be  more  popular  in  the 
South  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  American  Union. 

"It  transpired,  however,  that  the  popularity  of 
July  4th,  as  a  holiday  in  the  South,  commenced  to 
wane  about  1820,  and  continued  to  diminish  until 
1860,  when  it  was  practically  nothing.  At  that  time 
Christmas  had  been  so  turned  into  a  festive,  instead 
of  a  devotional,  holiday,  as  practically  to  supplant 
July  4th,  in  its  fireworks,  cannon  firing,  dancing,  and 
other  joyous  festivities. 

"Immediately  succeeding  the  Civil  War  of 
1860-'65,  the  negroes  observed,  in  some  degree,  the 
Fourth  as  a  holiday.  To  them  it  never  went  beyond 
being  simply  a  day  of  no  work.  Their  ancestors,  as 
a  people,  had  never  participated  in  the  patriotic 
emotions  which  impelled  the  events  for  which  the 
Fourth  may  be  celebrated  with  full  appreciation. 

"I  feel  that  this  meeting  here  to-day  to  celebrate 
the  4th  of  July  in  the  way   that   it   used   to   be 


APOSTLE  OF  PATRIOTISM  287 

celebrated  in  every  Southern  State  about  a  century 
ago,  is  significant  of  a  new  turn  in  the  affairs  of  the 
people  of  the  South.  I  feel  that  this  new  turn  is  one 
of  momentous  consequence  in  the  reconstruction  of 
our  fallen  fortunes  and  in  the  reclamation  of  our 
rightful  influence  and  position  in  the  American  Union. 

"  I  will  undertake  to  review  some  events  of  Ameri- 
can history,  and  in  the  light  of  these  events  show 
what  promise  there  may  be  for  us  all  in  the  impelling 
influences  that  bring  us  together  to  celebrate  the 
4th  of  July  to-day,  and  why  it  is  peculiarly 
appropriate  that  the  re-christening  of  the  Fourth  in 
the  South  should  be  done  in  Gastonia. 

"In  the  olden  time,  when  a  Southern  man  was 
appointed  to  write  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
when  a  Southern  man  was  leading  the  army  of  the 
revolution,  and  later  when  a  Southern  man  was  at  the 
head  of  the  new  Federal  government,  this  Piedmont 
region  was  fortunate  in  possessing  a  great  variety  of 
industrial  interests.  At  that  time  the  manufacturing 
interests  in  the  territory  south  of  the  Potomac  fully 
equalled,  if  they  did  not  surpass,  those  of  any  other  part 
of  the  United  States.  At  the  time  of  the  formation  of 
the  Federal  Union  Virginia  headed  the  list  of  all  the 
states  in  population  and  wealth,  and  North  Carolina 
stood  third  on  the  list.  There  was  developed  here  in 
the  Piedmont  region  blast  furnaces,  rolling  mills, 
cotton  factories,  foundries,  hollow  ware  factories 
(pots  and  ovens),  woolen  mills,  wagon  factories,  and 
many  other  manufacturing  industries.  American 
commerce  was,  in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  proportionately  of  greater  value  on  the  high 
seas  than  it  is  now.  Charleston,  Wilmington,  and 
other  Southern  ports  stood  relatively  far  higher  in  the 
world's  commerce  than  they  do  to-day. 


288  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

"We  had  in  those  days  a  fine  population  of  self- 
respecting  and  skilled  white  labor.  The  manu- 
factured products  of  this  section  stood  high  in  com- 
merce, not  only  here  at  home,  but  in  all  markets. 
The  rifles  made  at  Greensboro  and  near  Pendleton 
were  an  important  element  in  frontier  life  in 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  as  well  as  at  home.  At 
Lincolnton,  in  the  adjoining  county  to  this,  cotton 
mill  machinery  was  manufactured  in  the  early  part  of 
the  nineteenth  century;  and  some  of  the  parts  which 
are  still  preserved  show  that  the  design  and  work- 
manship were  excellent. 

"If  the  progress  in  manufactures  and  commerce 
which  was  so  much  advanced  in  1810  could  have 
continued  under  the  influences  under  which  they 
reached  such  a  considerable  development,  it  is  im- 
possible to  conceive  what  our  situation  might  be  to- 
day. What  hindered  the  progress.^  What  adverse 
influence  was  it  that  not  only  hindered  progress,  but 
gradually  dried  up  both  the  manufactures  and  the 
commerce  of  the  South  .'^  I  hold  that  it  was  the 
institution  of  slavery.  Under  its  influence  this 
country  gradually  changed  from  one  of  free  white 
labor,  diversified  manufactures,  prosperous  com- 
merce, and  successful  agriculture,  to  a  country 
practically  wholly  occupied  with  the  production  of  a 
few  staple  crops  with  slave  labor.  All  diversity  of 
agriculture,  beyond  a  few  staple  crops,  was  driven 
out,  insofar  as  making  products  for  commerce  was 
concerned.  It  came  to  pass  that  the  country  was 
given  over  to  the  big  planter  of  cotton,  tobacco,  or 
rice  with  slave  labor.  The  small  farmer  became 
poor.  The  iron  worker,  the  millwright,  the  gun- 
maker,  the  carpenter,  and  other  white  skilled  labor 
emigrated,    to   a   large   extent,    to   the   Northwest. 


APOSTLE  OF  PATRIOTISjM  289 

Those  of  them  who  were  left  drifted  to  farms,  where, 
having  no  markets  for  diversified  and  perishable 
farm  products,  they  became  very  poor  in  the  attempt 
to  raise  crops  in  competition  with  slave  labor.  As 
the  institution  of  slavery  grew  stronger,  the  South 
grew  weaker  in  most  of  the  elements  necessary  to  a 
strong  and  independent  people. 

"In  the  change  from  one  condition  to  another,  as 
above  described,  it  is  natural  that,  as  manufactures 
and  free  labor  were  driven  out  by  agriculture  and 
black  slave  labor,  the  4th  of  July  as  a  memorial 
day  and  holiday  should  follow  the  fortunes  of  the 
white  labor.  The  slave  had  no  occasion  to  cele- 
brate it.  With  scant  employment,  and  while  grow- 
ing poorer  year  by  year,  the  white  farmer  found  little 
occasion  to  want  to  celebrate  it,  because  it  didn't  fit 
the  institution  of  slavery,  which  he  so  strongly 
advocated. 

"The  changes  referred  to  gradually  led  up  to  the 
conditions  which  precipitated  the  Civil  War,  and 
abohshed  slavery. 

"For  a  quarter  of  a  century  succeeding  the  Civil 
War  there  was  forced  upon  the  South  a  condition  of 
social  and  political  anarchy  surpassing  in  persistent 
error  any  other  experience  in  the  history  of  nations. 
In  that  time  the  Fourth  was  made  a  sort  of  holiday 
by  the  negroes.  It  seemed  to  have  no  particular 
meaning  or  significance  in  their  minds  beyond  being 
a  day  of  no  work— a  sort  of  day  of  aimless  and  useless 
loafing. 

"With  slavery  abolished,  with  the  restoration  of 
law  and  order  and  the  reestablishment  of  honest  and 
stable  government — what  then.^ 

"The  descendants  of  the  manufacturers  of  1800 
immediately  reestabhshed  factories  in  1900.     I  have 


290  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

shown  how  the  great-grandsires  of  the  present 
generation  of  North  CaroUnians  made  a  success  of 
manufactures  and  developed  a  strong  and  prosperous 
commonwealth — then  holding  the  third  place  in  the 
Union.  Whoever  may  wish  to  know  what  sort  of 
success  the  present  generation  of  North  Carolinians 
are  making  of  manufactures,  and  in  building  a 
strong  and  prosperous  Commonwealth,  may  learn 
best  by  coming  to  see  Gastonia. 

"Having  begun  anew  the  career  of  our  forebears  in 
supporting  diversity  of  manufactures  and  agriculture 
and  in  fostering  commerce,  have  we  not  come  to 
the  time  when  again  the  4th  of  July  should  be  our 
most  cherished  secular  holiday?  Its  re-inauguration 
could  not  be  more  appropriately  made  than  in  a  city 
where  a  great  diversity  of  manufactured  products, 
not  only  in  cotton  goods  but  in  iron  works,  wood 
work,  and  in  many  other  lines,  and  in  a  city  whose 
neighboring  farms  sustain  a  diversified  agriculture. 
This  is,  too,  in  a  city  where  everything  has  been 
done  practically  inside  of  ten  years.  It  is  an  instance 
where  the  people  with  only  their  own  scant  resources 
have  practically  built  a  successful  and  prosperous  city. 

"  Twenty  years  ago  Gastonia  was  small  and  dilapi- 
dated. Nowadays  things  are  different  in  Gastonia, 
because  what  the  conditions  have  become  in  twenty 
years  is  an  ample  answer  to  any  reproach  for  former 
conditions.  Her  achievements  are  more  than  an 
answer  for  herself.  She  has  shown  every  poverty- 
ridden  Southern  town  what  wonderful  resource  there 
is  in  a  brave  home  people  when  the}'  try. 

"A  celebration  like  this  would  be  far  short  of  its 
full  JDurpose,  if,  in  reviewing  the  past  and  discussing 
the  present,  we  could  not  deduce  some  lessons  for  our 
guidance  in  the  future. 


APOSTLE  OF  PATRIOTISM  291 

"First  and  most  important  of  these  I  conceive  to  be 
contained  in  the  proposition  that  if  we  would  have 
our  agriculture  prosper,  our  manufactures  must  also 
prosper.  We  have  once  seen  the  consequences  of  per- 
mitting the  destruction  of  manufactures  in  the  interest 
of  slave  labor  and  agriculture.  One  of  the  most  con- 
spicuous results  of  the  political  success  of  agriculture  in 
a  way  that  eliminated  manufactures  was  the  infinite 
injury  that  ultimately  came  to  agriculture  itself  when 
manufactures  were  driven  from  the  South.  The 
deplorable  condition  to  which  agriculture  fell  grew 
worse  and  worse,  until  the  revival  of  manufactures 
revived  in  turn  the  agriculture  of  the  State  in  each 
locality,  in  proportion  as  manufactures  grew  and 
prospered. 

"There  can  be  no  competition  between  manu- 
factures, agriculture,  and  commerce.  The  success  of 
one  must  of  necessity  be  dependent  on  the  others  as 
well.  Each  of  the  three  must  be  kept  strong,  in 
order  to  make  a  strong  commonwealth.  We  must 
frown  upon  prejudice  by  manufactures  against 
commerce.  We  must  keep  strong  and  healthy  all 
three  elements  necessary  to  a  strong  and  prosperous 
commonwealth.  In  Massachusetts  the  manufactur- 
ing element  could  destroy  the  farming  element,  but, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  supports  it.  Except  for  the 
support  of  the  manufacturing  element,  farming  in 
Massachusetts  would  have  long  since  been  one  of  the 
lost  arts.  In  her  policies  that  state  is  wise  in  retain- 
ing in  her  counsels  representatives  of  all  three  of  these 
elements  necessary  to  a  strong  and  prosperous  state. 

"Our  long  training  as  an  agricultural  people  has 
brought  to  us  a  certain  abiding  degree  of  prejudice 
against  manufactures  and  commerce.  The  manu- 
facturer is  looked  upon  with  too  much  suspicion. 


292  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

The  railroads,  our  chief  instrument  of  commerce,  are 
treated   too   much   as   common   enemies.     I   would 
regret  to  seem  an  apologist  for  the  faults  of  either  of 
these.     On  the  other  hand,  I  would  regret  to  have  to 
stand  for  the  faults  of  those  who,  in  the  pursuit  of 
emolument  or  position,  foster  and  stimulate  prejudice 
against  manufactures  and  commerce.     In  listening 
to  the  sophistries  of  those  who  do  this,  the  farmers  of 
the  State  not  only  commit  a  grave  error  in  dealing 
with  their  best  friends,  but  hinder  their  own  progress 
and  do  themselves  injury.  LThe  cotton  factories  and 
the  raiboads  of  the  State  are  doing  the  farmers  more 
practical  good  than  all  the  office-holders  and  office- 
seekers  in  it  ever  can  do  it.     The  interest  of  the 
farmer  lies  with  the  manufacturer  and  the  railroad. 
He  should  vote  to  foster  and  encourage  these  in 
proper  ways,  and  not  to  handicap  and  harass  them. 
We  have  seen  how  the  Southern  agriculturist  of  the 
nineteenth  century  succeeded  in  driving  out  manu- 
factures and  drying  up  commerce,  and  to  what  end? 
To  his  own  undoing.     Since  the  war  we  have  seen 
the  State  prosper,  and  agriculture  regain  a  profitable 
position  in  proportion  as  manufactures  have  been 
established  and  increased.     Everybody  admits  the 
value  to  a  community  of  manufactures  and  good 
transportation    facilities    for    commerce.     It    would 
seem  natural  that  the  representatives  of  these  should 
be  invited  into  the  councils  of  the  government.     But 
our  politicians,  claiming  to  represent  the  farmers  of 
the  State,  who  are  in  a  majority,  set  it  up  as  offence, 
if  it  is  suggested  that  a  manufacturer  be  put  in  posi- 
tion to  take  a  hand  in  the  law-making  of  the  State. 
This  is  the  more  incomprehensible  when  it  is  con- 
sidered that  these  politicians  are  rarely  themselves 
farmers,  nor  are  they  in  position  to  do  the  farmers 


APOSTLE  OF  PATRIOTISM  293 

approximately  the  benefit  that  they  derive  from  the 
manufacturer.  They  simply  lead  the  majority  into 
an  attitude  of  antagonism  against  a  minority  element 
the  benefits  of  whose  works  everybody  admit^ 

"This  fight  of  the  majority  is  all  wrong.  Each 
element  should  help  the  other  element.  The  farmer, 
the  manufacturer,  and  the  railroad  man  should  work 
together  for  the  benefit  of  each  other,  and  for  the 
advantage  of  the  whole  State.  If  we  do  this,  the 
way  is  now  wide  open  to  a  bounteous  prosperity. 

"Slavery  circumscribed  our  habits  of  thought.  It 
took  away  from  us  freedom  of  political  action.  It 
destroyed  all  profitable  occupation  for  the  white  man 
who  worked  for  wages.  It  made  the  South  doubly 
solid;  first,  voluntarily  solid  for  the  protection  and 
perpetuation  of  slavery;  afterward  necessarily  solid 
against  the  disorder,  violence,  and  even  anarchy  that 
followed  in  the  wake  of  the  destruction  of  the  in- 
stitution. Slavery  is  now  gone  forever.  The  wreck 
of  its  destruction  is  now  about  cleared  away.  We 
may  now,  with  unhampered  hands,  prosecute  the 
work  of  reconstructing  the  industrial  fabric  of  the 
South  which  was  destroyed  by  slavery  and  by  an 
excess  of  zeal  for  agricultural  interest. 

"We  may  now  rebuild  the  working  man's  school, 
which  was  swept  away  in  the  interest  of  agriculture 
and  slave  labor.  We  may  again,  if  we  concur  in 
opinion,  follow  the  lead  of  George  Washington,  the 
Southern  protection  President.  We  may,  if  we  believe 
with  him,  follow  the  lead  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  the 
Southern  expansion  President.  We  may,  if  we  think 
as  he  did,  follow  the  lead  of  Andrew  Jackson,  the 
Southern  sound  money  President. 

"And  why  not  follow  these,  if  we  believe  with 
them?     They  are  all  Southern  men.     Each  and  every 


294  A  15U1LDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

one  of  us  has  come  to  follow  the  lead  of  that  other 
Southern-born  man,  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  aboli- 
tion President.  Not  one  of  us  would  fail  to  defeat  a 
proposition  for  the  restoration  of  slavery  if  we  should 
meet  such  a  proposition.  Having  come  unanimously 
to  concurrence  with  the  views  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
we  may  now  with  propriety  and  advantage  deter- 
mine whether  or  not  we  may  follow  any  or  all  these 
other  three  Southern  men;  and  formulating  our 
convictions,  follow  them  with  independence. 

"Let  it  be  distinctly  understood  that  I  am  saying 
no  w^ord  of  reproach  against  the  South  for  having 
stood  solid  for  the  quarter  of  a  century  succeeding  the 
Civil  War.  The  solidity  of  her  people  in  that  period 
was  of  the  same  sort  as  that  of  the  ministers  of  China 
when  they  were  shut  up  with  their  people  and  were 
besieged  by  the  heathen  mob.  Our  siege  by  anarchy 
has  been  raised.  The  enforcement  upon  us  in  our 
homes  of  fanatical  experiment  and  infamous  at- 
tempts at  sumptuary  regulations  of  our  affairs  have 
been  discontinued.  The  reasons  for  disregarding 
economic  questions  of  government  are  past.  The 
way  is  now^  open  for  us  to  participate  in  a  rational 
determination  of  governmental  questions.  If  we 
fail  to  do  it,  we  become  a  people  of  opposition  and 
obstruction. 

"It  may  be  charged  that  in  what  I  say  there  is 
inconsistency,  because  I  admit  the  error  of  slavery 
and  yet  complain,  perhaps  with  bitterness,  of  our 
treatment  during  the  period  of  so-called  reconstruc- 
tion. But  there  is  no  inconsistency.  As  we  were 
wrong  in  one  case,  so  were  our  friends  in  the  North 
wrong  in  the  other  case  in  nmch — yea,  most — of  what 
they  did.  The  account  of  error  North  and  South  is 
about  balanced.     The  opposing  forces  have  brought 


APOSTLE  OF  PATRIOTISM  295 

US  at  last,  the  North  and  the  South,  to  about  the  same 
course.  If  in  the  quarter  century  succeeding  the 
Civil  War  the  North  sent  to  us  men  who  were  in  the 
main  thieves  and  plunderers,  she  is  now  making  good 
to  us  this  error  by  sending  to  us  the  young  men  of 
her  best  blood  and  most  sterling  merit,  to  aid  in  the 
industrial  upbuilding,  and  as  hostages  of  good  faith, 
in  her  dealings  with  us  to-day. 

"If  we  were  plundered  in  the  so-called  reconstruc- 
tion period  by  carpet-baggers  who  came  South 
empty-handed,  the  machine  builder  and  capitalist  of 
the  North  are  in  a  considerable  degree  helping  us  to 
recover  our  losses  by  extending  generous  credits,  and 
in  many  cases  becoming  partners  with  us  in  our 
ventures.  We  have  come  back  to  that  condition 
which  prevailed  in  1776,  which  made  the  occasion 
which  we  are  here  to  celebrate,  when  the  people  of 
America  had  only  common  interests  and  were  a 
united  people. 

"The  loyalty  with  which  our  fathers  and  grand- 
fathers supported  the  institution  of  slavery  was  a 
mistake.  It  drove  out  diversified  manufactures  and 
turned  commerce  away  from  us.  It  did  not  even 
contribute  to  the  lasting  advantage  of  agriculture, 
but  brought  it  to  a  most  depressed  and  unprofitable 
condition.  The  reduction  and  confinement  of  the 
State's  resources  to  agriculture  alone  put  us  from 
third  place  in  wealth  and  population  to  a  position 
low  down  in  the  list. 

"We  return  here  to-day  to  a  loyalty  to  the  senti- 
ments and  purposes  of  our  Revolutionary  ancestors, 
which  were  the  highest,  the  noblest,  and  the  purest 
that  ever  existed  amongst  any  people." 

This  speech  was  delivered  in  many  North  Carolina 
towns,  and  its  ideas  were  proclaimed  and  emphasized 


296  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

by  Tompkins  during  several  years  in  speeches 
throughout  the  South. 

The  newspapers  caught  up  his  plea  for  inde- 
pendence of  thought;  and  the  politicians  undertook 
to  see  in  him  an  undeveloped  political  potentiality. 
They  urged  him  to  become  an  independent  can- 
didate for  Governor,  for  United  States  Senator, 
for  Member  of  Congress,  for  Mayor  of  Charlotte. 
They  did  not  understand  him.  His  mental  horizon 
was  too  large  for  their  narrow  vision.  His  strong 
and  clear-cut  ideas  of  fundamental  truths  in  govern- 
ment and  political  economy  unfitted  him  for  the 
ever-shifting  drama  of  political  life.  The  vestments 
of  the  politician  wereJtoo^malHojLlii^j^^^ 

While  Tompkins  loved  the  Union,  and  sought  to 
break  down  barriers  between  North  and  South,  he 
w^as  strong  and  firm  in  advocacy  of  Southern  white 
supremacy.  This  he  considered  fundamental  not 
only  to  Southern  industrial  progress,  but  also  to 
Southern  civilization.  He  proclaimed  this  idea 
North  and  South  in  speeches  and  in  the  press.  His 
views  on  the  subject  are  set  forth  in  the  following 
extracts  from  one  of  his  speeches : 

THE  SOLID  SOUTH  AND  ITS  NEEDS 

"The  South  is  compelled  to  stand  for  the  supre- 
macy of  the  white  man,  or  suffer  decline.  Its 
ultimate  development  depends  upon  escaping  the 
fate  of  Cuba  and  almost  all  South  America.  Under 
similar  conditions  Spanish  America  succumbed  to 
adverse  influences. 

"In  the  South  all  politics  in  both  parties  is  subject 
to  this  one  fundamental  principle.  Political  eco- 
nomics must  be  subject  to  it.     We  have  not  only  the 


APOSTLE  OF  PATRIOTISM  297 

example  of  Cuba  and  South  America  to  guide  us, 
but  we  have  had  in  the  reconstruction  period  a 
most  grievous  experience  of  our  own  to  confirm  the 
correctness  of  the  principle.  The  future  develop- 
ment and  progress  of  the  colored  race  is  as  depend- 
ent upon  the  white  standard  as  is  the  white  race  it- 
seK.  It  is  not  meant  here  to  suggest  that  the  colored 
race  be  denied  any  rights  or  the  exercise  of  any 
proper  influence.  But  the  standards  set  up  for  the 
colored  race  must  be  white  standards.  In  this 
situation  and  in  this  one  cause  the  white  people  of 
the  South  must  ever  stand  together. 

"The  South  made  a  stupendous  mistake  about  the 
institution  of  slavery.  The  sufferings  of  its  people 
as  a  result  of  this  mistake  exceed  almost  those  of  any 
other  modern  people.  Its  experiences  make  it  abhor 
the  institution.  It  has  never  made  a  mistake  about 
race  relations.  The  colored  people  as  a  whole 
never  suffered  at  the  hands  of  its  people.  There 
was  never  a  time  when  Southern  slavery  was  not  an 
advance  on  African  savagery.  Dominion  of  white 
influence  is  not  in  the  least  an  attack  upon  the 
colored  citizen  or  any  of  his  fair  prerogatives  or  just 
privileges,  any  more  than  it  is  upon  the  white  child. 

"The  South  has  abandoned  slavery,  and  it  should 
now  abandon  such  political  principles  as  were  made 
to  fit  the  institution.  Nothing  could  be^  more 
important  than  to  maintain  high  standards  of  civiliza- 
tion. Accepting  that  as  essential  above  all  things, 
then  we  ought  to  work  out  our  new  political  eco- 
nomics on  the  basis  of  modern  conditions.  The 
tariff,  American  shipping,  the  currency,  conservation, 
count  as  nothing  to  our  being  on  safe  ground  where 
standards  of  civilization  are  concerned;  but,  after 
that,  the  South  has  need  for  light  on  all  these  and 


298  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

more.  The  time  has  come  when  we  must  require 
those  who  represent  us  in  Washington  to  be  sound 
upon  the  fundamental  principle  of  white  supremacy, 
and  then  also  support  sound  political  economics, 
fitted  to  modern  times  and  conditions." 

There  is  no  mistaking  the  deep  love  which  Tomp- 
kins felt  for  the  South,  nor  his  conviction  of  the 
necessity  for  white  supremacy.  But  he  believed 
that  the  South,  now  emancipated  from  slavery,  was 
ready  for  emancipation  from  the  mental  tyranny  of 
slavery. 

In  a  speech  on  National  Expansion,  which  he 
delivered  extensively  during  the  national  discussions 
over  the  annexation  of  the  Philippine  Islands, 
Tompkins  shows  himself  clearly  and  strongly  in  his 
threefold  character  of  a  patriotic  American,  a  de- 
voted and  loyal  Southerner,  and  a  firm  believer  in 
the  Darwinian  theory  and  Spencerian  philosophy  of 
" The  Survival  of  the  Fittest."  He  was  a  true  Anglo- 
Saxon,  loving  land  and  loving  power,  but  loving 
liberty  more — not  theoretical  and  impracticable 
liberty,  nor  the  unrestrained  and  desolate  freedom  of 
the  wild  ass  of  the  desert,  but  practical  liberty 
based  upon  human  nature  and  human  experience  and 
common  sense,  the  liberty  of  law  and  order  and 
civilization,  the  liberty  of  industrial  achievement 
and  of  unlimited  human  progress. 

NATIONAL   EXPANSION 

*' Civilization  a  Survival — The  history  of  nations 
is  largely  a  record  of  'the  survival  of  the  fittest.' 
Modern  nations  exist  by  reason  of  the  death 
of  the  nations  of  the  past.  It  is  useless  now  to 
argue  the  justice  of  the  destruction  of  any  nation  of 


APOSTLE  OF  PATRIOTISM  299 

former  times.  That  nations  have  fallen  when  no 
longer  fit  to  rule,  is  a  fact  and  it  may  safely  be  pre- 
dicted that  the  future  will  be  a  verification  of  the 
wisdom  of  the  destruction  of  outworn  and  effete 
forms  of  government,  which  had  to  be  destroyed 
that  the  progress  of  the  world  might  not  be  retarded. 

*'In  a  business  man's  every -day  life  he  sees  this 
law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  at  work,  thinning  out 
the  ranks  of  his  competitors,  introducing  new 
material.  And  it  would  be  the  silliest  kind  of 
sentimentalism  for  the  successful  man  of  affairs  to 
sit  down  and  lament  his  past  success  and  cease  his 
efforts  to  widen  his  avenues  of  trade,  because  he  may 
have  been  the  indirect  means  of  pushing  to  the  wall 
some  other  business  man,  forcing  him  to  assign  or  to 
go  into  bankruptcy,  leaving  his  wife  and  children  de- 
pendent on  charity.  Yet  the  like  happens  every  day. 
Competition,  the  very  essence  of  business  life,  puts 
down  some  and  elevates  others.  The  fittest  survive. 
It  must  be  so,  else  there  is  no  life,  no  progress. 
Whatever  the  socialist  and  other  sentimentalists  may 
think,  the  survival  of  the  fittest  is,  has  been,  and  will 
always  be  the  law  of  progress  in  national  affairs,  in 
business,  and  in  all  the  other  walks  of  life. 

''A  Retrospection— When  the  United  States  set  up 
business  in  1789,  they  were  small  in  numbers,  popula- 
tion, and  area,  confined  to  the  Altantic  slope.  It  is 
true  they  all  claimed  dominion  to  the  great  ocean  on 
the  west,  but  that  claim  was  disputed,  and  success- 
fully, too,  for  many  years.  The  beginning  of  an 
expansion  of  territory  was  inaugurated  by  the 
purchase  of  Louisiana  by  Jefferson  in  1803.  The 
reason  given  by  those  who  favored  the  acquisition 
of  the  new  territory  was  necessity.  The  young 
republic  did  not  feel  that  it  was  strong  enough  to  go 


300  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

to  war  with  the  nation  that  then  held  the  port  of 
New  Orleans,  so  it  proposed  to  acquire  rights  in  the 
Mississippi  valley  by  purchase.  The  territory  of 
Louisiana,  with  its  Indians,  Spaniards,  Creoles,  and 
French  was  acquired,  Jefferson  himself  saying  there 
was  no  constitutional  warrant  for  thus  expending 
the  public  money.  He  never  said  the  Republic  had 
no  right  to  acquire  territory  by  conquest,  nor  did  he 
ever  quote  the  memorable  declaration  of  1776  about 
the  'consent  of  the  governed,'  while  consummating 
the  bargain  with  Napoleon.  It  seems  that  such  a 
weighty  (?)  objection  to  the  trade  in  hand  was  then 
overlooked,  and  thus  James  Monroe,  the  United 
States  Minister  at  Paris,  and  Napoleon  closed  the 
deal  without  consulting  the  Shawnees,  the  Sioux,  the 
Spaniards,  the  Creoles,  and  the  French  residents  then 
on  the  land  called  Louisiana. 

"  Then,  in  a  few  years  the  Spaniards  and  Seminoles 
of  Florida  were  sold  out  to  the  United  States.  The 
Seminoles  and  Spaniards  there  were  not  consulted 
nor  was  the  consent  of  those  to  be  governed  obtained. 
The  Anglo-Saxon  desire  for  land  and  the  necessities 
of  the  young  republic  subordinated  all  other  con- 
siderations; and  Spain's  colonial  possession,  Florida, 
was  made  a  territory  of  the  United  States. 

The  State  of  Texas  was  acquired  in  1844  by 
annexation,  which  led  to  the  Mexican  War.  When 
the  affairs  of  that  war  were  wound  up,  the  United 
States  took  some  land,  some  Indians,  and  some 
Spaniards,  in  payment  of  the  war  debt,  and  to  punish 
Mexico  for  being  indiscreet  enough  to  go  to  war  with 
us.  It  has  been  said  that  Mexico  was  unfit  to 
govern  Texas;  that  her  power  there  was  a  menace  to 
progress,  and  that  the  Texans  won  their  independence 
some  time  before  1844,  in  consequence  of  Mexico's 


APOSTLE  OF  PATRIOTISM  301 

tyranny  and  incapacity  for  enlightened  government. 
However,  this  country  acquired  Texas  by  the  consent 
of  the  governed,  it  seems;  but  the  territory  compris- 
ing Arizona,  New  Mexico,  Cahfornia,  Utah,  Nevada, 
and  some  additional  strips,  was  not  acquired  by  the 
*  consent  of  the  governed.' 

"In  1867,  when  General  Grant  purchased  Alaska,  it 
was  done  only  by  the  consent  of  this  country  and 
Russia.  The  Esquimaux  and  the  Indians  and  the 
fur  traders  up  there  were  not  consulted,  nor  their 
future  rights  considered.  The  United  States  thought 
they  needed  the  land  and  they  paid  for  it,  consulting 
the  tenants  in  nothing. 

"  The  Why  of  All  This — It  may  be  remarked,  in  the 
first  place,  that  the  United  States  now  have  all  the 
land  referred  to  above;  that  some  of  it  has  been 
formed  into  states  and  admitted  into  the  Union  on 
equal  terms  with  the  thirteen  original  states.  In  the 
second  place,  it  may  be  noted  that  in  acquiring  this 
territory  no  time  was  specified  as  to  the  term  during 
which  the  new  territory  was  to  remain  without  the 
privileges  of  statehood,  nor  was  that  question  then 
considered;  and  that  no  conditions  were  imposed 
on  this  country  by  virtue  of  any  acquisition,  ex- 
cept those  freely  imposed  by  this  nation  upon 
itself. 

"But  the  veriest  tyro  knows  that  we  did  not  ex- 
pand to  the  Pacific  Ocean  or  the  West  all  by  chance, 
or  because  the  territory  happened  to  be  contiguous  or 
because  we  punctiliously  observed  certain  tenets 
of  the  Declaration  of  1776,  or  certain  injunctions  that 
Washington  left  to  Congress  about  entangling 
alliances.  We  have  expanded  because  we  deserved 
to  expand,  because  we  demonstrated  our  capacity  to 
buy  land,  to  conquer  land,  to  annex  land,  and  to 


302  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

govern  the  people  on  that  land.  Without  such 
capacity  our  past  expansion  would  never  have  taken 
place,  and  would  have  remained  an  unrealized  dream 
in  the  minds  of  some — nothing  more. 

"  The  Consent  of  the  Governed  Theory — It  may  be 
pertinent  to  remark  here  that  the  government  of  this 
country  has  never  proceeded  on  the  theory  of  a 
literal  application  of  the  principles  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  to  the  government  of  its  territories 
especially  when  the  territories  contained  inferior 
peoples;  nor  have  the  several  states  literally  applied 
those  doctrines  in  carrying  on  their  local  govern- 
ments. At  the  very  moment  Jefferson  was  writing 
those  memorable  words  about  the  consent  of  the 
governed  his  several  hundred  slaves,  governed  by 
overseers  on  his  Virginia  plantation,  had  no  govern- 
ment by  the  consent  of  the  governed.  The  several 
states  composing  the  Congress  w^hich  published 
that  declaration  to  the  world  had  restrictions 
numerous  and  many  on  the  suffrage,  and  did  not 
govern  their  inhabitants  by  consulting  the  wishes  of 
all  the  governed. 

"But,  it  may  be  said,  the  several  states  have 
gradually  removed  those  restrictions,  and  the  ten- 
dency is  now  to  consult  the  wishes  of  all  the  governed. 
This  is  all  very  true,  especially  when  the  governed  are 
thought  to  be  worthy  of  exercising  the  rights  of 
citizens  on  account  of  superiority  of  morals  and 
capacity  for  civilization.  Instead,  however,  of  this 
country  consulting  the  wishes  of  all  the  governed,  it 
has  always  shown  the  good  sense  not  to  do  so.  And 
in  pursuing  such  a  policy  this  country  has  gained 
the  proud  place  she  now  holds  as  a  civilizing  factor 
in  the  world's  progress.  If,  as  Mr.  Gladstone  once 
said,  the  English  economy  of  government  is  founded 


APOSTLE  OF  PATRIOTISM  303 

on  inequalities,  it  only  shows  that  such  inequalities 
have  inured  to  the  benefit  of  all  mankind,  as  witness 
that  wherever  England  goes,  trade,  commerce,  Chris- 
tianity, civilization,  and  good  government  follow. 
Certain  social  and  moral  conditions  have  rendered 
so-called  inequalities  in  our  governmental  policy 
necessary;  inequalities  of  mere  birth,  of  course,  are 
not  here  considered. 

"The  absolute  impossibility  of  a  practical,  literal 
realization  of  the  theory  of  Jefferson  about  the 
political  equality  of  all  men,  then,  is  apparent. 
Those  who  invoke  such  a  doctrine  now,  to  argue 
against  the  further  expansion  of  this  country,  betray 
an  ignorance  of  our  past  history  which  is  little  less 
than  absurd.  The  whole  history  of  our  dealings  with 
inferior  races,  such  as  the  Indian  and  Southern 
negro,  ought  to  be  gentle  reminders  of  the  fact  that  a 
good  government  in  this  country  would  have  always 
been  impossible,  based  on  a  literal  interpretation  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence;  and  would  to-day 
be  impossible  in  almost  every  Southern  state.  It 
may  be  argued  that  our  treatment  of  the  Indian  has 
been  immoral  and  degrading,  and  that  our  present 
treatment  of  the  Southern  negro  is  equally  so.  But 
the  treatment  which  the  Indians  and  the  negroes 
have  received  at  the  hands  of  the  superior  races  has 
been  the  treatment  all  inferior  races  have  received  at 
the  hands  of  superior  races,  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 
Joshua's  treatment  of  the  Canaanites  was  not  half  so 
humane  as  our  treatment  of  the  American  Indian. 
Platitudes  about  equality  and  natural  rights  do  not 
alter  race  prejudices  and  laws  of  nature.  It  is  a 
wise,  a  righteous  provision  of  God's  law  that  provides 
that  the  imperfect  must  die  that  progress  be  made, 


304  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

and  that  the  whole  race  be  not  engulfed  in  ignorance 
and  vice,  superstition  and  paganism. 

*'This  leads  me  to  say  that  the  South  once  made 
the  great  mistake  of  trying  to  perpetuate  African 
slavery  in  the  face  of  the  English  prohibition  and  in 
the  face  of  civilization.  But  the  North  also  made  an 
equally  great  mistake  when  it  gave  the  emancipated 
slave,  ignorant  and  inferior  to  his  white  neighbors, 
the  right  to  vote.  The  question  of  the  negro's 
physical  freedom  is  settled  forever,  but  the  vain 
attempt  to  apply  the  theory  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  here  in  the  South  to  the  negro,  giving 
him  the  power  to  vote,  without  regard  to  his  mental 
and  moral  qualifications,  is  not  yet  wholly  settled 
in  favor  of  progress  and  good  order.  Judging  from 
past  experience,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  theoretical 
doctrines  of  political  equality  and  the  consent  of  the 
governed  will  play  a  very  small  part  in  the  final 
adjustment  of  the  race  problem.  Plain,  practical 
good  sense  and  Anglo-Saxon  superiority  will  govern 
in  the  end;  and  if  the  negro  stands  in  the  way  of 
progress  he  will  have  to  get  off  the  earth,  just  as  the 
Massachusetts  Indians  did  before  the  face  of  Capt. 
Miles  Standish  and  his  Puritan  soldiers. 

"We  have  lately  taken  up  a  war  in  the  interest  of 
humanity.  We  have  destroyed  the  sovereignty  of 
an  effete  nation  in  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  and  the  Philip- 
pines. Those  islands  are  now  certainly  not  Spain's, 
and  wh}^?  Simply  because  she  does  not  deserve  to 
rule  them.  We  have  violated  no  code  of  inter- 
national ethics  in  taking  the  foot  of  Spain  off  the 
necks  of  the  Cubans  and  Filipinos.  We  would  have 
deserved  the  censure  of  civilization  if  we  had  not 
done  as  we  did  do.  Therefore,  we  have  settled  the 
first  great  problem  in  expansion  in  this  particular 


APOSTLE  OF  PATRIOTISM  305 

instance;  we  have  demonstrated  that  we  have  the 
moral  character  sufficient  to  protect  the  weak  from 
the  oppressions  of  the  vicious  and  tyrannical.  In 
doing  so,  we  have  been  true  to  our  traditions  and  our 
history.  We  have  realized  that  we  owed  it  to  civili- 
zation to  do  as  we  have  done,  viz.,  destroy  forever 
the  sovereignty  of  Spain  in  her  colonies.  And  when 
Spain's  power  was  thus  destroyed  in  her  colonies,  the 
one  supreme  question  of  expansion  was  settled  for- 
ever. 

"Unless  we  intend  to  reverse  our  past  policy  of 
dealing  with  inferior  races  and  institutions  and  enter 
on  a  policy  of  decrepitude  and  imbecility  we  need 
fear  nothing  from  extending  our  sovereignty  over  the 
Philippines.  The  man  who  doubts  our  ability  to 
restore  order  in  the  Philippines  and  to  rule  them  as 
we  do  Alaska  and  New  Mexico  and  Hawaii  must 
certainly  have  lost  faith  in  our  institutions.  It 
seems  to  me  he  must  deliberately  give  the  lie  to  the 
whole  history  that  is  behind  us. 

"It  is  said  that  we  have  no  constitutional  right  to 
annex  the  Philippines.  If  that  be  true,  then  there 
was  no  constitutional  warrant  for  the  acquisition  of 
Alaska,  Louisiana,  Hawaii,  or  New  Mexico.  Such 
theories  and  refinements  may  amuse  the  antiquarian, 
but  they  certainly  do  not  appeal  to  common  sense. 
We  have  been  governing,  taxing,  and  acquiring  alien 
territory  and  peoples  since  the  beginning  of  this 
century  through  a  period  of  100  years,  and  it  is  rather 
late  now  to  enter  such  a  plea. 

"The  idea  of  annexing  a  'subject  people'  to  this 
country  seems  to  give  the  anti-expansionists  alarm 
just  as  if  they  never  heard  of  such  a  thing  before. 
Are  not  the  Alaskans  a  *  subject  people.^'  Have  we 
not  seen  the  people  acquired  with  the  Louisiana 


306  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

purchase  go  through  all  the  stages  from  the  condi- 
tion of  a  'subject  people'  to  the  highest  form  of 
self-government  known  to  our  institutions?  These 
so-called  anti-imperialists  argue  that  a  'subject 
people'  means  a  monarchical  government  and  a 
colonial  system,  and  that  as  they  are  against  a 
monarchy  and  in  favor  of  a  republic,  therefore  they 
are  anti-imperialists  and  against  what  they  call  the 
colonial  system,  forgetting  our  past  history  and 
that  a  republic  has  to  deal  with  the  same  prob- 
lems of  government  with  which  a  monarchy  has  to 
deal. 

"We  have  seen  ourselves  go  through  the  process  of 
evolution  from  colonies  to  a  Federal  Union,  control- 
ling large  areas  of  land  under  a  territorial  s;y*stem  of 
government,  which  is  only  another  term  for  a  colonial 
system,  and  yet  we  pretend  that  we  are  afraid  of 
colonies !  We  have  had  colonies  in  this  country  ever 
since  we  ceased  to  be  colonies  ourselves.  For  any  one, 
then,  to  say  that,  all  of  a  sudden,  the  expan- 
sionists are  insisting  on  embarking  on  some  before -un- 
heard-of scheme,  insisting  on  adopting  a  new  colonial 
system  for  this  country,  certainly  indicates  a  remark- 
able forgetfulness  of  our  past  history. 

"Has  the  expansion  of  this  country  to  include  the 
Spaniards  and  Indians  of  Florida  made  us  forgetful 
of  the  great  principle  of  local  self-government.'^  Has 
the  expansion  of  our  republic  to  include  the  Creoles, 
the  Indians,  and  the  French  of  Louisiana,  and  the 
Spaniards  and  the  Indians  and  the  half-breeds  of 
New  Mexico  made  us  insensible  of  the  rights  of 
people  to  govern  themselves?  No,  a  thousand  times, 
no!  Our  history  gives  the  lie  to  such  a  proposition, 
while  at  the  same  time  our  expansion  has  taught  us 
that  the  practical  application  of  the  theories  of  the 


APOSTLE  OF  PATRIOTISM  307 

Declaration  of  Independence  cannot  yet  be  made  to 
all  classes  and  conditions  of  men.  That  lesson  is 
worth  something,  because  it  teaches  us  that  we  can 
govern  the  Philippines  just  like  Thomas  Jefferson 
governed  Louisiana,  or  Polk  governed  the  lands 
acquired  from  Mexico,  and  with  just  as  little  danger 
to  our  institutions,  our  constitution,  and  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence. 

"The  climatic  objection  is  one  of  last  resort.  We 
had  Alaska  in  one  extreme  and  Florida  in  the  other 
before  the  late  war  with  Spain.  The  climate  of 
Alaska  did  not  prevent  the  discovery  of  gold  in  the 
Klondike;  the  climate  of  Cuba  will  not  prevent  an- 
other George  Waring  from  going  there  to  aid  in 
cleansing  its  cities,  nor  will  climate  prevent  the 
benefits  of  good  government  from  being  carried  to  the 
Philippines  by  the  United  States.  It  is  the  mission 
of  humanity  and  science  to  counteract  the  ill  effects 
of  climate  and  to  show  men  how  to  live  under  adverse 
conditions.  Indeed,  I  believe  that  the  time  is  coming 
when  all  tropical  countries  will  be  governed  by  the 
people  of  temperate  zones.  And  finally,  if  it  is  a 
good  thing  to  take  our  religion  to  the  East,  why  is  it 
not  as  correct  a  thing  to  do  to  take  our  goverment 
there,  climate  or  no  climate,  just  as  we  send  our 
missionaries  out  regardless  of  tropical  suns  and 
rams.'' 

The  two  greatest  passions  of  Tompkins  were  love 
of  home  and  love  of  country.  With  him  the  Tomp- 
kins family  and  Edgefield  and  South  Carolina  and 
the  Southern  States  were  the  heart  of  the  Nation 
but  not  greater  than  the  Nation.  Patriotism  with 
him  was  a  larger  passion  than  love  of  home,  for 
patriotism  was  love  of  home  writ  large.     He  was 


308  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

proud  of  liis  race  and  proud  of  his  country,  because  of 
the  ideals  that  they  represented.  He  favored 
national  expansion,  not  for  the  sake  of  dominion, 
but  for  the  increase  of  freedom  and  the  spread  of 
liberty  over  the  globe. 


CHAPTER  XVTI 

A  PLAN  FOR  MARKETING  COTTON THE  PROBLEM 

STATED — ^A    SYSTEM    OF    COTTON    WAREHOUSES 

UNDER      CORPORATE      OWNERSHIP      AND 

GOVERNMENT    CONTROL — PROGRESS 

OF      THE      PLAN — STATE      AND 

NATIONAL         LEGISLATION 

THE  mind  of  Tompkins,  at  once  practical  and 
philosophic,  was  peculiarly  attracted  by  prob- 
lems connected  with  the  marketing  of  cotton. 
His  life  on  a  cotton  plantation,  his  experience  in 
hauling  cotton  to  market,  his  career  as  builder, 
manager,  and  owner  of  cotton  mills,  his  experience  as 
cotton  buyer  and  cotton  seller  had  impressed  upon 
his  mind  the  disadvantages  of  fluctuations  in  cotton 
prices  and  the  evils  of  cotton  speculation.  He  under- 
stood the  urgent  need  of  improvement  in  the  existing 
system  of  marketing  cotton. 

In  the  Manufacturers'  Record,  August  11,  1904,  he 
published  an  article  which  analyzed  the  problem  and 
suggested  a  solution.     The  article  was  as  follows: 

TO  MAINTAIN  A  FAIR  AVERAGE  PRICE  FOR  COTTON 

"The  cotton  situation  has  been  unsatisfactory 
either  to  the  farmer  or  to  the  manufacturer  for  the 
last  ten  years .  The  price  of  raw  cotton  has  within  the 
decade  ranged  from  a  figiu'e  less  than  five  cents  to  one 
exceeding  15  cents.     The  low  price  was  a  hardship 

809 


310  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTiI 

on  the  farmer,  and  the  high  price  has  paralyzed  the 
cotton  goods  trade,  which  paralysis  extends  naturally 
to  the  cotton  mills  also.  Every  farmer,  merchant, 
and  manufacturer  who  is  conservative,  will  testify  to 
the  fact  that  unsettled  conditions  are  adverse  to  the 
safe  conduct  of  his  business.  Each  of  these  would 
prefer  conditions  which  eliminate  all  speculative 
features  and  which  carry  in  these  respective  callings 
a  fair,  moderate  profit. 

"Some  little  review  of  past  conditions  may  be  of 
value  in  elucidating  present  conditions. 

"The  institution  of  slavery  reduced  the  South 
practically  to  the  single  occupation  of  agriculture 
with  slave  labor.  Slave  labor  meant  of  necessity 
ignorant  labor.  The  conditions  in  the  decade  im- 
mediately preceding  the  Civil  War  were  such  as 
admitted  no  very  material  increase  in  population  and 
little,  if  any,  in  wealth.  The  conditions  totally 
stifled  manufactures.  The  equivalent  natural  in- 
crease in  population  emigrated  to  the  northwest  free 
states,  or,  in  case  of  a  few  whites  carrying  many 
negroes,  to  the  southwest  slave  states. 

"After  the  Civil  War  the  conditions  were  semi- 
anarchic.  The  South  was  compelled  to  make  a 
new  start  in  the  one  industry  of  agricufture  and 
with  ignorant  negro  labor.  The  people  knew  noth- 
ing else.  There  was  no  diversity  worth  consider- 
ing. 

"Speaking  in  round  numbers  in  all  cases,  the 
events  of  the  development  since  the  Civil  War  may 
be  illustrated  by  the  following  figures.  Taking  the 
four  decades  succeeding  the  war,  we  find  the  pro- 
duction of  cotton  and  the  development  of  manu- 
factures represented,  as  shown  by  figures,  as  fol- 
lows: 


A  PLAN  FOR  MARKETING  COTTON  3U 

FIRST   DECADE 

2,500,000  bales  cotton,  at  24  cents  $300,000,000 

Manufactures 10,000,000 

Total $310,000,000 

SECOND  DECADE 

5,000,000  bales  cotton,  at  12  cents  $300,000,000 

Manufactures 25,000,000 

Total $325,000,000 

THIRD   DECADE 

10,000,000  bales  cotton,  at  6  cents  $300,000,000 

Manufactures 100,000,000 

Total $400,000,000 

FOURTH  DECADE 

10,000,000  bales  cotton,  at  12  cents  $600,000,000 

Manufactures 400,000,000 

Total $1,000,000,000 

"The  figures  as  to  manufactures  are  estimated, 
as  representing  the  value  to  the  South  of  increasing 
manufactures;  and  the  price  obtained  for  the  cot- 
ton crop  in  the  fourth  decade  shows  the  influence  of 
diversified  interests  in  relieving  the  harsh  competi- 
tion, when  everybody  had  practically  one  business 
or  calling. 

"The  time  will  probably  not  come  again  when 
cotton  will  go  to  five  cents.  Southern  people  have 
found  that  there  are  other  things  which  may  be  done 


312  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

to  better  advantage  than  to  produce  cotton  under 
adverse  conditions. 

*'It  has  been  pointed  out  that  in  the  first  three  dec- 
ades succeeding  the  Civil  War,  as  the  production 
increased,  the  price  decreased.  In  each  decade 
the  product  of  quantity  and  price  was  a  constant, 
reaching  $300,000,000.  Now  we  have  the  same 
sort  of  situation,  except  on  a  higher  level.  Take  this 
year's  crop,  for  example.  Weather  conditions  may 
make  it  vary  from  11,000,000  bales  to  13,000,000 
bales.  If  the  former,  the  price  will  probably  aver- 
age 13  cents,  while  at  the  latter  figure  the  price  may 
average  11  cents. 

13,000,000  bales,  at  11  cents $715,000,000 

11,000,000  bales,  at  13  cents 715,000,000 

"The  great  drawback  to  the  production  and  the 
manufacture  of  cotton  is  the  uncertainty  as  to  quan- 
tity and  price.  A  practical  plan  to  eliminate  this 
uncertainty  would  be  of  untold  advantage  to  the 
farmer,  the  manufacturer,  and  the  merchant  the 
world  over.  It  would  be  perhaps  of  greatest  value 
to  the  ultimate  consumer. 


"The  proposition  before  us,  to  secure  a  cotton  sup- 
ply in  average  and  satisfactory  quantity  from  year 
to  year  and  at  an  average  satisfactory  price  is  as 
follows : 

(1)  We  must  find  some  way  to  make  the  annual 
consumption  the  average  of  the  production  for  at 
least  ten  years. 

(2)  We  must  find  some  way  to  maintain  the  price 
at  the  average  of  what  it  would  be  in  ten  years  under 
the    varying    influences    throughout  the  ten  years. 


A  PLAN  FOR  MARKETING  COTTON  313 

''Two  means  or  ways  for  accomplishing  this  aver- 
age suggest  themselves.  The  first  of  these  is  by 
State  control.  This  would  mean  that  the  principal 
cotton-growing  states  should  join  in  making  a 
monopoly  of  the  commerce  in  cotton.  If  each  State 
would  enact  a  law  to  take  the  entire  crop  of  cotton 
in  the  State  at  10  cents  a  pound,  and  sell  it  out  to  the 
cotton  mills  at  10  cents  plus  the  cost  of  conducting 
the  business,  and  hold  to  the  one  price,  regardless 
of  whether  the  crop  is  large  or  small,  then  the  aver- 
age could  be  accomplished.  If  in  a  big  crop  year 
there  was  a  surplus,  it  would  be  carried  over;  if  a 
deficiency,  then  the  mills  would  simply  shut  down  a 
week  or  a  month  or  whatever  time  would  be  neces- 
sary on  account  of  the  deficiency. 

"The  plan  seems  unusual.  The  conditions  are 
unusual,  viz.,  for  a  world  product  to  be  subject  to  the 
extreme  variations  of  weather  and  other  influences 
in  an  area  that  is  by  comparison  insignificant  as 
compared  to  the  area  of  the  consumption  of  cotton 
products.  In  such  narrow  area  natural  influences 
become  often  cumulative  to  make  an  abnormal  low 
crop  or  an  abnormal  high  crop.  While  the  plan  is 
unusual,  it  is  not  without  precedent  in  other  fields 
of  staple  products.  South  Carolina  monopolizes  the 
commerce  in  whiskey,  France  in  tobacco,  Hungary 
in  wines  from  her  vineyards.  Many  cities  monopo- 
lize the  liquor  traflSc  by  dispensaries.  The  United 
States  monopolizes  the  mail  business.  Ordinarily, 
it  is  far  best  to  leave  things  under  the  control  of 
natural  causes  and  influences.  Ordinarily,  nature  has 
provided  methods  of  getting  average  results.  Some- 
times a  means  or  method  is  provided  by  nature,  but 
left  for  us  to  find  and  operate,  as  in  the  case  of  in- 
surance. 


314  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOTTTH 

"The  second  and  most  practical  plan  would  be  by 
and  through  a  corporation  whose  capital  is  sufficient 
and  whose  field  of  operations  covers  enough  ground 
and  time  to  accomplish  average  results.  It  is  by 
means  of  corporations  that  the  risks  of  life  and  fire 
are  averaged  and  a  life  or  fire  insurance  premium 
is  figured  out  to  cover  the  risks.  The  company 
cannot  control  life  or  death,  or  prevent  fire.  It  can 
only  find  an  average  of  these,  and  mitigate  harsh 
results,  which  would  fall  to  individuals,  if  they  were 
not  averaged.  It  might  be  apprehended  that  such 
a  corporation  would  control  the  cotton  business. 
It  could  not;  and  only  disaster  would  follow  any  at- 
tempt to  do  it.  It  would  be  as  important  and 
necessary  for  such  a  company  to  figure  correctly  the 
proper  averages  of  quantity  and  price  as  it  is  for  a 
life  insurance  company  to  figure  correctly  the  aver- 
age life  expectation  and  corresponding  premium.  If 
either  of  these  figures  is  not  accurately  ascertained 
beforehand,  no  safe  business  could  be  done.  So  in 
the  matter  of  the  world's  demand  for  cotton  and 
price.  The  average  of  these  two  factors  is  a  constant 
for  the  same  conditions.  A  company  would  pro- 
vide for  yearly  variations  in  production  the  same 
as  an  insurance  company  provides  for  the  individual 
uncertainty  of  a  man's  life. 

*'The  two  methods  of  State  and  corporate  effort 
are  mentioned  in  order  to  cover,  in  this  article,  the 
scope  of  the  subject.  The  method  of  control  by 
the  states  would  be  objectionable:  (1)  because  all 
the  cotton  states  could  not  be  brought  to  agreement 
on  the  subject;  (2)  it  would  lead  to  corruption  in 
politics  and  State  government;  (3)  it  would  be  too 
socialistic  in  tendency  to  suit  the  American  people. 

"The  plan  of  corporate  effort  would  be  practically 


A  PLAN  FOR  MARKETING  COTTON  315 

parallel  with  the  work  of  the  insurance  companies 
in  averaging  the  rates  for  life  and  fire  insurance. 
The  operation  of  such  a  plan  would  totally  eliminate 
the  speculator.  It  would  break  up  all  bucket  shops, 
the  number  of  which  is  now  increasing,  and  the  oper- 
ations of  which  are  extending  to  the  small  towns  even. 
It  would  stay  the  spirit  of  speculation.  The  oper- 
ations of  the  plan  would  vastly  benefit  the  farmer, 
the  manufacturer,  the  merchant,  and  the  con- 
sumer. If  the  average  production  should  begin  to 
fall  below  the  requirements,  the  price  could  be 
raised  a  little.  If  the  surplus  should  become  chronic, 
let  the  price  be  lowered  a  little. 

"The  bettered  conditions  would  attract  immigra- 
tion to  the  South,  and  the  increased  demand  for 
cotton  could  be  met  by  this  immigration.  It  is 
not  in  the  interest  of  the  Southern  farmer  nor  of 
the  cotton-growing  states  to  undertake  to  maintain 
cotton  at  so  high  a  price  as  will  stimulate  large  pro- 
duction in  other  countries.  A  fair  average  price 
will  hold  the  monopoly  in  the  United  States  in  the 
future,  as  in  the  past." 

A  month  later,  in  an  address  on  "The  Storing  and 
Marketing  of  Cotton,"  delivered  before  the  New 
England  Cotton  Manufacturers'  Association  at  Bret- 
ton  Woods,  New  Hampshire,  he  strongly  advocated 
a  system  of  cotton  warehouses  under  corporate 
management,  wherein  farmers  might  store  their 
cotton,  receiving  storage  certificates,  transferable 
in  the  markets  of  the  world  and  available  as  col- 
laterals for  loans.  The  following  extracts  will  illus- 
trate the  general  character  of  this  address  and  its 
main  ideas: 

"In  many  other  departments  of  life  we  have  found 
a  means  to  get  an  approximate  average  of  consump- 


316  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

tion  and  supply.  In  order  to  do  this  for  cotton  it 
would  seem  that  the  best  plan  is  to  form  a  company 
or  system  of  companies,  which  should  build  large 
central  warehouses  in  the  cotton-producing  area  and 
issue  certificates  upon  the  cotton  which  would  be 
stored  in  them.  The  warehouses  should  be  built  in 
the  centres  of  cotton  production,  where  the  farmer 
himself  may  go  and  store  his  cotton  and,  if  he  is  so 
disposed,  hold  his  cotton  to  see  whether  it  goes  up 
or  down,  keeping  in  his  possession  a  storage  certifi- 
cate. The  warehouse  must  be  large  enough  to  jus- 
tify eflScient  management  and  clerical  organization 
suflScient  to  take  care  of  it;  to  justify  a  system  of 
sprinklers  and  other  fire  protection.  It  must  be  in 
the  hands  of  a  corporation  whose  certificates  are 
known  to  be  absolutely  good  for  the  cotton. 

"In  other  staple  crops  we  have  found  means  of 
storage  to  make  the  product  security  for  money  at 
the  banks  while  it  is  stored,  take  proper  care  of  it 
in  respect  to  fire,  water,  and  other  sources  of  damage, 
and  to  issue  a  storage  certificate  upon  it  which  be- 
comes a  trading  basis  anywhere  in  the  United  States. 
If  we  bring  the  cotton  crop  to  that  same  condition, 
build  warehouses,  issue  receipts,  let  it  be  known 
that  those  receipts  represent  the  cotton  and  that  the 
cotton  never  moves  till  the  receipt  comes  back  to 
release  it,  we  shall  have  taken  a  tremendous  step 
forward  in  the  interest  of  everybody  connected  with 
the  cotton  trade." 

In  a  subsequent  address,  December  12,  1904,  be- 
fore the  National  Cotton  Convention  at  Shreveport, 
La.,  Tompkins  develops  his  plan  in  fuller  detail. 
After  discussing  various  factors  that  affect  cotton 
production  and  cotton  prices,  viz.,  boll  weevil, 
foreign  production,  scarcity  of  labor  and  lack  of  a 


A  PLAN  FOR  MARKETING  COTTON  317 

cotton-picking  machine,  he  considers  the  evils  of 
cotton  speculation,  due  to  fluctuations  in  the  size  of 
the  crop;  and,  as  a  remedy,  proposes  a  carefully 
planned  and  regulated  system  of  cotton  warehouses. 

"We  furnish  to  the  world  one  year  a  crop  which  is 
overwhelmingly  big  and  the  next  year  a  crop  which  is 
insufficient  to  supply  the  ordinary  demands.  This 
creates  a  condition  in  which  the  speculator  holds 
high  carnival  in  dealing  in  cotton.  The  legitimate 
merchant  and  manufacturer  are  made  to  turn  gam- 
bler, whether  they  will  or  not,  and  the  ordinary  course 
of  trade  is  tremendously  disturbed.  The  average 
production  for  ten  years,  if  it  could  be  maintained, 
would  bring  about  an  average  price.  Inasmuch  as 
the  climate  forbids  this,  from  one  year  to  another  it 
is  important  that  the  production  shall  be  by  some 
artificial  means  brought  to  more  or  less  of  an  aver- 
age and  thereby  the  price  brought  to  an  approximate 
average.  I  believe  that  this  might  best  be  done  by 
the  development  of  a  system  of  warehouses  which 
would  do  far  more  than  shelter  and  care  for  the  cot- 
ton. Existing  warehouses  simply  issue  a  receipt  for 
a  bale  of  cotton.  No  effort  is  made  to  state  what  kind 
of  cotton  the  receipt  stands  for,  nor  does  the  ware- 
house company  assume  any  responsibility  for  the 
grade,  weight,  or  anything  else  connected  with  the 
cotton.     Insurance  is  higher  than  it  ought  to  be. 

"I  believe  that  if  a  comprehensive  warehouse 
company  would  engage  the  best  graders  to  be  had, 
and  would  issue  a  certificate  in  which  every  factor  re- 
lating to  the  bale  of  cotton  was  accurately  entered, 
and  the  warehouse  company  stand  responsible  for 
the  description  of  the  cotton  as  given  in  the  receipt, 
such  a  receipt  could  be  traded  in  to  better  advantage 
than  the  bale  of  cotton  itself.     The  purchaser  of  the 


318  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

receipt  in  Carolina,  in  England,  or  in  Germany, 
would  know  more  about  the  particular  bale  of  cotton 
in  question  from  the  receipt  in  hand,  than  he  would 
know  about  it  if  he  saw  the  bale  of  cotton.  Cotton 
being  one  of  the  very  best  collaterals  on  the  market, 
such  receipts,  standing  for  the  cotton  exactly,  might 
be  traded  in  in  the  financial  institutions  of  the  whole 
world.  Thus  it  would  be  feasible  to  bring  cotton 
within  reach  of  the  surplus  money  of  the  world;  and, 
when  there  was  a  large  crop,  the  surplus  would  un- 
doubtedly be  carried  over  hy  financial  institutions, 
as  investments,  until  a  small  crop  should  bring  the 
price  to  an  average.  It  would  save  the  forcing  of 
the  surplus  on  the  market,  and  by  proper  construc- 
tion of  warehouses,  proper  protection  against  fire, 
and  building  in  proper  units,  the  cost  of  carrying 
cotton  could  be  very  much  reduced  both  by  reduc- 
tion of  insurance  and  by  reduction  of  interest  rate  in 
consequence  of  the  certificate  being  an  accurate  rep- 
resentation of  the  cotton  itself. 

"I  exhibit  herewith  the  picture  of  a  warehouse 
which  I  have  designed  to  carry  from  20  to  30  thou- 
sand bales  of  cotton  according  to  weight  and  extent 
of  compression.  I  exhibit  also  a  receipt  which  not 
only  stands  for  a  bale  of  cotton,  but  gives  the  gen- 
eral classification,  the  grade,  the  length  of  the  staple, 
the  strength  of  staple,  the  degree  of  tinge,  the  degree 
of  softness,  and  the  degree  of  fineness.  All  these 
points  are  to  be  given  in  accordance  with  the  judg- 
ment and  the  skill  of  the  best  and  most  expert  graders 
obtainable.  This  record,  written  by  experts,  would 
make  a  certificate  representing  a  bale  of  cotton  stand 
for  more  to  a  purchaser  than  if  an  average  unexpert 
purchaser  could  see  the  bale  of  cotton  himself. 
This  certificate  would  stand  for  more  to  a  banker  in 


A  PLAN  FOR  MARKETING  COTTON  319 

Liverpool,  or  in  Bremen,  than  the  cotton  would  to 
the  average  man  in  the  town  where  the  cotton  was  lo- 
cated. It  would,  in  addition  to  having  the  record  of 
expert  judgment  on  every  feature  of  the  particular 
bale,  also  have  the  backing  of  a  responsible  company 
guaranteeing  this  record.  Such  a  system  of  ware- 
houses, with  such  a  receipt,  would  tremendously 
simplify  the  purchase  by  a  mill  man  of  cotton  in 
warehouse,  no  matter  where  located  in  the  cotton- 
growing  district.  The  European  spinner  by  the  pur- 
chase of  these  certificates  could  become  the  owner  of 
cotton  in  Memphis  with  absolute  confidence  that 
with  a  certificate  in  hand  he  knew  more  about  the 
cotton  than  if  he  could  see  it  in  Memphis  and  with 
the  further  absolute  confidence  that  the  responsi- 
bility of  the  warehouse  company  insured  his  getting 
the  cotton  whenever  he  wanted  it,  and  yet  equally 
insured  its  safekeeping.  By  making  it  feasible  for  a 
mill  man  to  buy  cotton  from  the  owner  in  warehouses 
outside  the  mill  territory,  and  by  bringing  cotton 
into  shape  where  it  could  be  held  as  an  investment 
and  the  surplus  carried  over  from  one  season  to  an- 
other as  an  investment,  speculation  would  neces- 
sarily have  a  much  narrower  field  of  operations  than 
now,  and  the  cotton  spinner  would  have  an  infinitely 
better  situation  in  respect  to  buying  cotton  than  he 
has  now." 

The  Shreveport  address  attracted  national  atten- 
tion, and  was  published  extensively  by  commercial, 
manufacturing,  and  trade  journals.  One  passage 
in  the  speech  caught  the  popular  fancy,  and  was 
quoted  very  generally  and  extensively  by  the  daily 
and  weekly  newspapers.  This  passage  was  a  refer- 
ence to  the  famine  in  Egypt  caused  by  "seven  years 
of  dearth"  following  "seven  years  of  plenteousness." 


320  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

Tompkins  applied  the  Biblical  story  to  the  cotton 
situation  as  follows: 

"If  a  minimum  crop  because  of  weather  condi- 
tions precedes  a  maximum  crop  because  of  other 
weather  conditions,  it  makes  a  famine  one  year  and 
a  glut  the  next. 

"The  famine  year  ruins  the  cotton  manufacturer. 

"The  fat  year  ruins  the  farmer. 

"In  the  years  past  we  heard  that  the  cotton 
farmer  needed  a  Moses.  The  cotton  farmer  did  need 
a  Moses. 

"The  farmers'  Moses  has  been  found.  He  is  the 
cotton  factory.  What  the  farmer  now  needs  is  a 
Joseph.     Listen  to  what  Joseph  did : 

"And  in  the  seven  plenteous  years  the  earth 
brought  forth  handfuls. 

"And  he  gathered  up  all  the  food  of  the  seven 
years,  which  were  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  laid  up 
the  food  in  the  cities;  the  food  of  the  field,  which  was 
round  about  every  city,  laid  he  up  in  the  same. 

"And  Joseph  gathered  corn  as  the  sand  of  the  sea, 
very  much,  until  he  left  numbering;  for  it  was  with- 
out number.     .     .     . 

"And  the  seven  years  of  plenteousness  that  was  in 
the  land  of  Egypt  were  ended. 

"And  the  seven  years  of  dearth  began  to  come,  ac- 
cording as  Joseph  had  said ;  and  the  dearth  was  in  all 
lands;  but  in  all  the  land  of  Egypt  there  was  bread. 

"And  when  all  the  land  of  Egypt  was  famished, 
the  people  cried  to  Pharaoh  for  bread;  and  Pharaoh 
said  unto  all  the  Egyptians,  Go  unto  Joseph;  what 
he  saith  to  you,  do. 

"And  the  famine  was  over  all  the  face  of  the  earth; 


A  PLAN  FOR  MARKETING  COTTON  321 

And  Joseph  opened  all  the  storehouses,  and  sold  unto 
the  Egyptians ;  and  the  famine  waxed  sore  in  the  land 
of  Egypt. 

"And  all  countries  came  into  Egypt  to  Joseph  for 
to  buy  corn;  because  that  the  famine  was  so  sore  in 
all  lands. 

"As  the  development  of  manufactures  was  the 
Moses  to  lead  the  cotton  farmer  out  of  the  wilder- 
ness, so  the  development  of  commerce  must  be  the 
Joseph  who  is  to  average  the  production  of  a  series 
of  years  and  thereby  meet  the  world's  demands  and 
steady  the  price." 

Tompkins  had  been  the  manufacturing  Moses  to 
lead  the  cotton  farmers  of  the  South  out  of  the  in- 
dustrial wilderness.  His  plan  for  cotton  ware- 
houses now  showed  him  to  be  also  a  possible  Joseph. 
He  was  in  large  demand  as  a  speaker  on  this  topic  and 
delivered  this  speech  with  some  changes  before  the 
National  Association  of  Cotton  Manufacturers  in 
Atlanta,  the  Southern  Cotton  Growers'  Association 
in  New  Orleans,  and  various  other  organizations, 
conventions,  and  associations  throughout  the  South- 
ern States.  The  address  was  also  published  in 
pamphlet  form  and  widely  circulated  among  cotton 
growers,  manufacturers,  and  merchants. 

"At  the  meeting  of  the  Southern  Cotton  Growers' 
Association  in  New  Orleans,  under  the  influence  of 
Tompkins'  speech,  a  committee  was  appointed  to 
recommend  improvements  in  the  existing  ware- 
house system.  The  report  of  the  committee  shows 
the  hand  and  the  voice  of  Tompkins.  It  recom- 
mended: (1)  the  building  of  large  warehouses  in 
commercial  centres,  to  which  local  warehouses  may 
be  tributary;  (2)  the  formation  of  grading  and  guar- 
antee  companies   to   issue   guaranteed   receipts   on 


322  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

cotton  in  any  warehouse  adopting  proper  methods 
and  giving  proper  bonds;  (3)  the  encouragement  of 
credits  based  upon  warehouse  certificates.  'Upon 
a  proper  system  of  warehouses,'  says  the  committee, 
in  conclusion,  'depends  the  future  of  cotton.  A 
perfect  system  will  enable  us  to  solve  the  problems 
of  marketing  cotton,  to  extend  our  foreign  markets 
for  cotton  goods,  and  to  increase  the  construction  of 
Southern  cotton  mills.  These  things  are  vital  to  our 
continued  prosperity,  and  none  of  them  can  be  well 
accomplished  until  the  Southern  farmer  is  enabled 
to  house  thoroughly  and  cheaply  his  cotton  while 
waiting  the  coming  of  the  buyer.  Three  things 
we  intensely  need  and  must  have  at  the  earliest  time 
possible:  (1)  warehouses  that  make  absolute  pro- 
tection and  very  low  insurance  possible;  (2)  a  receipt 
covering  goods  stored,  which  clearly  describes  the 
goods  and  is  of  such  financial  strength  as  to  make  as- 
sured its  acceptance  in  all  markets;  (3)  a  law  which 
applies  to  warehouse  receipts  the  rules  of  negotiable 
instruments,  and  clearly  defines  the  title  of  the  legal 
holder  of  such  receipts.'" 

In  a  speech  written  for  the  "Cotton  Conference" 
May  2,  1906,  at  Washington,  D.  C,  Tompkins  shows 
that  he  had  reached  a  definite  conclusion  as  to  the  es- 
sential factors  in  the  solution  of  this  problem. 

"The  trouble  about  cotton,"  said  he,  "reminds  us 
of  the  former  confusion  about  money  when  issued 
by  the  old  State  banks;  or  it  is  like  the  confusion 
which  used  to  exist  in  the  fertilizer  business.  The 
remedy  for  such  evils  has  been  found  to  be  examina- 
tion, control,  and  rei^ulation.  I  am  convinced  that 
90  per  cent,  of  the  troubles  about  cotton  in  commerce 
can  be  remedied  in  the  same  way,  viz. :  by  corporate 
or  State  examination  and  control.     This  means  that 


A  PLAN  FOR  MARKETING  COTTON  323 

a  large  and  responsible  corporation,  or  the  State, 
would  undertake  the  establishment  of  a  bonded 
warehouse  system  for  the  custody  of  cotton;  and 
would  employ  experts  to  examine,  classify,  grade, 
and  otherwise  so  exactly  define  on  paper  each  bale  of 
cotton  that  the  certificate  would  become  a  better  sub- 
ject for  trade  than  the  cotton  itself. 

"The  middleman  can  take  infinite  liberties  with  a 
bale  of  cotton  while  it  is  his  property,  which  he 
could  not  take  with  a  certificate,  standing  for  a  bale 
bonded  as  to  every  particular.  The  first  thing  a 
farmer  would  do  would  be  to  have  his  bale  of  cotton 
certificated  by  the  corporation  or  State  expert. 
The  moment  it  is  certificated,  it  is  past  being  tamp- 
ered with,  or  misrepresented,  by  any  middleman. 
A  book  of  certificates  should  be  printed  once  in  two 
weeks,  or  once  a  month,  so  that  a  man  in  England  or 
Germany,  with  the  book  in  hand,  could  see  how  much 
cotton  was  available,  where  located,  who  the  owner 
was,  address  of  owner,  and  then  the  Manchester 
spinner  could  buy  cotton  direct  from  the  farmer. 

"Such  a  system  would  tend  to  eliminate  wide 
fluctuations  in  price.  Now,  if  it  is  discovered  there 
is  a  big  crop,  there  is  no  way  for  surplus  capital 
or  bank  money  or  trust  money  to  conserve  the  sur- 
plus. With  a  system  of  certificates,  which  are 
really  safer  to  deal  in  than  the  cotton  itself,  surplus 
money  would  always  take  up  surplus  cotton.  Thus 
all  the  evils  at  present  existing  would  be  corrected 
by  the  natural  tendency  of  trade  and  not  by  arti- 
ficial means. 

"If  cotton  is  gin  cut,  the  inspector  and  grader 
would  state  the  fact  in  the  certificate,  and  the 
farmer's  indifference  to  poor  ginning  would  come 
home  to  him.     If  cotton  is  well  ginned,  the  fact  is 


8JJ4  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

stated,  and  the  farmer  gets  the  increased  price,  which 
the  spinner  is  willing  pay.  Any  excess  tare,  any  bad 
condition  of  bale,  any  surplus  moisture,  any  sand 
would  be  named  in  the  certificate.  Thus  the  faults 
and  the  merits  of  bales  would  reach  the  farmer  and 
the  mill  man  alike.  Speculators  could  not  well 
trade  in  such  certificates;  at  least  not  to  injury  of  the 
farmer  or  spinner. 

"The  suggestions  which  I  here  make  relating  to 
cotton  have  already  been  carried  out  by  each  of  the 
cotton  states  in  dealing  with  fertilizers.  The 
condition  of  fertilizers  on  the  market  was  once  as 
bad  as  cotton  is  now.  Inspection,  analysis,  and 
control  have  brought  this  commodity  into  excellent 
commercial  situation.  To  do  the  same  with  cotton 
involves  its  custody  under  bond,  as  well  as  its  grade 
and  certification. 

"Besides  advantage  to  commerce  in  cotton  the 
South  would  enjoy  all  the  business  and  income  con- 
nected with  the  warehouse  business.  The  English- 
man buying  certificates — perhaps  by  direct  corres- 
pondence with  the  farmer — would  put  his  certificate 
in  the  safe,  and  leave  the  cotton  in  the  Southern 
bonded  warehouse  until  he  needs  it.  The  South 
would  thus  collect  storage  from  England  on  cotton 
already  bought  for  English  mills.  It  would  be  a  con- 
venience and  economy  for  England,  and  nobody 
would  lose  anything  by  the  arrangement." 

In  a  subsequent  article  he  sums  up  the  plan  as 
follows : 

"The  essential  features  of  the  cotton  warehouse- 
guarantee  certificate  plan  would  be: 

"(1)  A  system  of  local  and  central  warehouses 

"(2)  A  corps  of  inspectors  and  graders. 

"(3)  A  certificate  giving  every  detail  the  ultimate 


A  PLAN  FOR  MARKETING  COTTON  325 

buyer  or  spinner  would  want  to  know  about  the  cot- 
ton. 

"(4)  A  guarantee  company,  to  stand  for  the  cotton 
and  the  facts  as  represented  in  the  certificate. 

"(5)  A  cotton  exchange  to  handle  a  standard 
trading  certificate,  exchangeable  for  actual  ware- 
house or  delivery  certificate." 


"Under  such  a  system  as  I  propose  a  cotton  ex- 
change properly  organized  would  be  the  medium 
through  which  all  of  this  business  would  naturally 
be  done.  Such  an  exchange  would  be  a  beneficent 
commercial  organization  instead  of  a  gambling  in- 
stitution. It  would  contribute  to  the  economy  of 
the  whole  commerce  in  cotton.  The  cotton  would 
generally  first  be  stored  in  a  local  warehouse  in  mar- 
ket towns  under  an  ordinary  warehouse  certificate, 
and  would  in  due  time  naturally  progress  to  a  central 
warehouse  point  where  a  new  certificate,  giving  grade 
and  every  detail,  would  be  issued.  This  certificate 
would  be  negotiable  anywhere  in  the  world  and  would 
serve  as  a  basis  of  credit. 

"Such  a  system  would  be  of  immeasurable  value 
to  the  mills,  inasmuch  as  they  could  then  go  into  the 
market  and  sell  goods  as  they  wanted  and  then 
cover  and  hedge  through  the  exchange  upon  the  ac- 
tual cotton  that  they  want  or  so  nearly  that  it  would 
be  the  equivalent. 

"This  system  was  discussed  by  me  before  the 
Shreveport  Cotton  Convention  in  1904.  It  was 
further  discussed  by  me  before  the  cotton  con- 
vention in  New  Orleans  and  again  in  Atlanta. 
Interest  is  increasing  all  the  time.  Throughout  the 
South  farmers  are  organizing  local  warehouses;  and 


326  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

these  will  all  naturally  in  time  become  a  part  of  the 
system. 

The  system  must  necessarily  be  a  development  and 
the  development  is  now  going  on." 

The  solution  of  this  problem  was  thus  developed 
step  by  step  in  the  mind  of  Tompkins.  He  knew 
that  similar  development  step  by  step,  in  longer  time 
and  with  many  experiments,  would  take  place  in  the 
mind  and  the  practice  of  the  business  world.  He 
never  ceased  to  study  the  problem,  and  to  give  his 
thoughts  to  the  world.  A  little  while  before  his 
death,  as  he  lay  abed  a  helpless  invalid,  he  wrote  to 
the  Textile  World  Record,  and  added  a  new  idea  to  his 
previously  developed  warehouse  plan : 

"A  proper  warehouse  system  for  cotton  should 
include  warehouses  in  the  principal  markets  of  the 
world  for  cotton  goods,  as  well  as  warehouses  in 
the  cotton  belt  for  raw  cotton.  This  in  conjunction 
with  the  banking  system,  as  large  as  the  new  system 
is  expected  to  be,  would  create  and  facilitate  not  only 
for  the  sale  of  raw  cotton  but  also  for  cotton  goods. 

".  .  .  If  we  could  have  a  system  of  ware- 
houses owned  by  one  or  more  big  corporations  and  so 
coupled  wuth  our  new  banking  facilities  as  to  make 
it  feasible  to  carry  these  goods  a  reasonable  time 
for  the  mills  at  one  end  and  the  merchants  at  the 
other,  we  would  tremendously  extend  our  commerce 
in  cotton  goods  abroad,  as  well  as  take  care  of  our 
cotton  at  home.  This  might  involve  a  federal 
charter  and  the  same  sort  of  federal  examination, 
publicity,  and  control  as  our  national  banking  system 
is  now  run  under.  ...  A  private  corporation 
chartered  by  the  government,  like  our  national  banks, 
should  be  of  infinite  benefit;  and  an  unbridled  cor- 
poration could  be  of  infinite  harm." 


A  PLAN  FOR  MARKETING  COTTON  327 

This  was  the  last  expression  by  Tompkins  on  the 
subject.  It  shows  the  clear  conclusion  to  which  he 
had  come;  viz.,  corporate  ownership  of  cotton 
warehouses  under  government  examination,  pub- 
licity, and  control. 
^  Laws  to  regulate  the  ginning,  warehousing,  and 
marketing  of  cotton  have  recently  been  enacted  by 
many  of  the  cotton  states.  The  city  of  New  Orleans 
under  laws  of  the  State  has  constructed  and  is  operat- 
ing public  cotton  warehouses  "with  a  storage  ca- 
pacity of  approximately  half  a  million  bales"  and 
"with  negotiable  receipts  current  in  financial  centres 
throughout  the  country."  This  warehouse  system 
aims  "to  enable  the  port  of  New  Orleans  to  become  a 
deposit  market  for  the  cotton  supply  of  the  world." 

The  State  of  South  Carolina  has  a  law  providing 
for  a  system  of  cotton  warehouses.  The  State 
Warehouse  Commissioner  in  a  circular  explaining 
the  State  law  and  setting  forth  the  benefits  to 
farmers  of  cotton  warehouses  concludes  with  the 
following  appeal: 

"The  farmers  of  each  community  in  every  cotton- 
producing  county  in  South  Carolina  should  unite  in 
building  a  warehouse;  the  owner  of  every  ginnery 
should  operate  a  warehouse  for  the  accommodation 
of  patrons;  every  farmer  making  100  bales  of  cotton 
should  have  a  plantation  warehouse,  or  two  or  more 
farmers  should  combine  in  the  construction  of  a 
warehouse  with  capacity  sufficient  to  store  their  own 
and  their  neighbors'  cotton.  If  there  were  enough 
warehouses  in  the  State  Warehouse  System  to  store 
all  the  cotton  grown  in  the  State  (about  1,500,000 
bales),  the  farmers  of  South  Carolina  could  control 
the  marketing  of  their  cotton  crops,  selling  strictly 
on  grades  and  only  when  prices  were  satisfactory." 


328  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

The  United  States  Government  under  the  U.  S. 
Warehouse  Act  of  August  11,  1916,  has  provided  for 
licenses  to  cotton  warehouses  which  are  properly 
constructed,  equipped,  managed,  and  bonded;  and 
has  also  made  provision  to  furnish  licensed  weighers 
and  classifiers,  who  shall  classify  the  cotton  ac- 
cording to  grade,  or  otherwise,  and  certificate  the 
same.  A  circular  issued  by  the  Department  de- 
clares that: 

"The  central  purpose  of  the  U.  S.  Warehouse  Act 
.  .  .  is  to  establish  a  form  of  warehouse  receipt 
for  cotton,  grain,  wool,  tobacco,  and  flaxseed,  which 
will  make  these  receipts  easily  and  widely  negotiable 
as  delivery  orders  or  as  collateral  for  loans  and, 
therefore,  of  definite  assistance  in  financing  crops. 
This  purpose  the  act  aims  to  attain  by  licensing  and 
bonding  warehouses  under  conditions  which  will  in- 
sure the  integrity  of  their  receipts  and  make  these 
receipts  reliable  evidence  of  the  condition,  quality, 
quantity,  and  ownership  of  the  products  named 
which  may  be  stored  with  them." 

The  dream  of  Tompkins  may  yet  be  realized. 
Many  forces  are  working  for  it:  cities,  states,  and  the 
United  States.  He  foresaw  both  the  distant  goal 
and  the  long  road.  With  characteristic  patience  and 
philosophy  he  applied  to  the  growth  of  this  favorite 
scheme  a  truth  which  might  comfort  other  reformers 
and  benefactors  of  mankind:  "The  system  is  neces- 
sarily a  development,"  said  he,  "and  the  develop- 
ment is  now  going  on." 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

PROMOTER  OF  BUILDING  AND  LOAN  ASSOCIATIONS 
LAND         LOAN         BANKS — HOME-PURCHASE 
PLAN  OF  LIFE  INSURANCE 

LACK  of  thrift  was  a  great  defect  in  the  hf e  of  the 
Old  South  and  a  great  obstacle  to  the  building 
-^  of  the  New  South.  It  was  an  inheritance  from 
slavery  not  easily  gotten  rid  of.  Southern  aristo- 
crats, Southern  poor  whites,  and  Southern  negroes 
all  looked  down  upon  Yankee  thrift  as  "unworthy  of 
a  Southern  gentleman." 

Tompkins  turned  his  mind  and  bent  his  energies  to 
correct  this  evil.  He  was  thrifty  himself  by  natural 
inclination,  by  intellectual  conviction,  and  by  force  of 
education  and  experience  in  Northern  schools  and 
workshops.  It  was  one  of  his  ambitions  to  promote 
thrift  among  Southern  working  men.  After  careful 
study  he  decided  that  the  best  instrumentality  for 
this  purpose  was  building  and  loan  associations. 

The  problem  was  not  only  to  furnish  an  oppor- 
tunity for  investing  small  savings,  but  also  to  supply 
a  constant  stimulus,  which  would,  in  a  way,  force  the 
workmen  to  save.  The  ordinary  savings  bank  did 
not  offer  such  stimulus.  But  the  building  and  loan 
association  appealed  to  love  of  home,  one  of  the 
strongest  passions  in  the  heart  of  the  humblest 
Southerner.  It  kept  constantly  before  his  im- 
agination the  picture  of  a  home.  It  thus  incited 
him  to  save;  and  it  enabled  him  to  save,  even  with 

329 


330  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

small  effort.  Finally,  if  he  made  good,  it  helped  him 
with  loans  sufficient  to  build  a  home. 

Tompkins,  when  working  as  a  day  laborer  in  the 
Bethlehem  Iron  Works,  had  gone  through  an  exten- 
sive experience  with  building  and  loan  associations. 
This  experience  was  narrated  by  him  whenever 
he  advocated  them.  He  knew  that  personal  ex- 
perience appeals  more  strongly  to  the  average  mind 
than  mere  argument;  and  so  to  arouse  the  interest 
and  sympathy  of  his  audiences  he  would  make  him- 
self the  hero  in  each  building  and  loan  campaign. 

Here  is  the  story,  as  he  told  it  in  a  speech  at 
States ville,  N.  C. 


MY   FIRST    EXPERIENCE    WITH    BUILDING    AND 
LOAN    associations" 

"At  the  Rensselaer  Polytechnic  at  Troy,  New 
York,  while  I  was  a  student,  I  got  some  vacation 
work,  and  some  work  during  my  spare  time  in  college, 
at  the  steel  works  in  South  Troy.  I  got  this  work 
through  Mr.  Alexander  Holley,  who  was  then  in- 
troducing the  Bessemer  steel  process  in  the  United 
States  for  Henry  Bessemer.  The  work  was  chiefly 
tracing  drawings  for  different  Bessemer  steel  works 
he  was  building. 

"About  the  time  I  graduated  Mr.  Holley  moved 
his  office  to  New  York,  so  as  to  be  more  accessible 
to  the  work  he  was  then  engineering,  and  I  went 
with  him.  After  a  year  of  work  in  New  York,  Mr. 
Holley  went  to  Europe;  and  I  went  to  Bethlehem,  Pa. 

"At  Bethlehem  I  arranged  with  the  chief  clerk 
to  deposit  the  contents  of  my  pay  envelope  in  the 
bank  each  Monday  instead  of  drawing  it.  The  name 
of  this  clerk  was  CharHe  Prosser.     One  day  I  met 


BUILDING  AND  LOAN  331 

Charlie  on  the  way  to  the  works,  and  he  asked  me  if 
I  didn't  want  to  buy  five  shares  in  the  building  and 
loan  association.  I  had  an  idea  that  the  building 
and  loan  institution  was  some  ephemeral  'benefi- 
cent organization.'  I  had  saved  a  little  naoney 
while  working  for  Mr.  Holley,  and  was  saving  a 
little  more  at  Bethlehem.  Prosser  told  me  a  member 
named  Abe  Crider  wanted  to  sell  out,  and  wanted 
to  sell  a  lot  along  with  the  building  and  loan  shares. 
I  finally  told  him  I  would  take  two  building  and  loan 
shares,  and  on  these  I  had  to  pay  $1  a  month. 

"I  soon  found  that  my  savings  through  the 
building  and  loan  at  the  rate  of  $2  per  month  were 
more  satisfactory  than  what  I  was  otherwise  sav- 
ing. Prosser  would  pay  the  $2  a  month  for  the  two 
shares  out  of  my  pay,  and  then  the  balance  of  my 
money  he  would  put  in  the  bank,  and  in  one  way 
or  another  I  would  check  it  nearly  all  out.  I, 
therefore,  resolved  to  take  three  more  shares  in  the 
building  and  loan.  These  shares  were  $200  apiece, 
and  each  share  required  the  payment  of  $1  a  month 
through  a  period  of  eleven  and  a  half  or  twelve  years. 
"The  money  I  drew  from  these  five  shares  made 
$1,000  when  they  were  paid  out,  and  this  was  the  first 
$1,000  capital  I  ever  had.  Since  then  I  have  been  an 
urgent  advocate  of  compulsory  savings  on  the  in- 
stallment plan.  The  engagement  for  compulsion  is 
practically  with  oneself,  because  the  building  and 
loan  has  no  way  of  compelling  payments. 

"Most  people  have  an  aversion  for  entering  into 
an  engagement  to  pay  so  much  money  a  week  or  a 
month,  but  the  engagement  is  only  compelling 
enough  to  operate  one's  conscience,  as  it  were,  and 
it  is  found  that  a  great  majority  of  men  will  keep  such 
an  engagement  punctiliously  to  the  end. 


332  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

"Societies  have  been  formed  to  promote  home 
owning  by  working  people  and  others,  philanthropists 
have  interested  themselves  in  such  movements,  but 
under  the  very  nose  of  these  societies  and  philanthro- 
pists the  American  people  have  become  home-owning 
people  through  and  by  means  of  the  building  and 
loan  association. 

"After  paying  out  my  first  five  shares,  and  getting 
the  $1,000  in  actual  cash,  I  resolved  always  to  keep  in 
the  building  and  loan  for  as  much  money  as  I  could 
save  weekly  or  monthly,  and  I  have  always  done  so. 

"The  building  and  loans  are  to-day  much  better 
organized  and  better  managed  than  the  old  institu- 
tion. They  are  more  uniform  and  more  absolutely 
mutual.  They  are  operated  on  three  conspicuous 
plans  to-day.  At  Charlotte,  N.  C,  the  shares  are 
$100  each  and  mature  in  about  six  and  a  half  years; 
in  Philadelphia  the  shares  are  $200  each  and  mature 
in  about  eleven  and  a  half  years;  at  Dayton,  Ohio, 
the  shares  are  $100  each  and  mature  in  about  six 
and  a  half  years,  but  in  Dayton  they  have  no  series. 
They  let  a  member  join  at  any  time  and  start  his 
payments  at  once.  Each  man,  therefore,  becomes  a 
series  by  himself.  Many  of  these  Ohio  societies 
operate  on  what  is  called  the  *  Dayton  Plan,'  and 
have  accumulated  some  of  them  as  much  as 
$1,000,000  assets,  and  some  of  them  have  gone  as 
high  as  $5,000,000. 

"Children  may  join  and  pay  as  little  as  $1  per 
month,  and  no  training  could  be  better  for  thrift  and 
economy  than  that  of  the  child  having  to  make  a 
weekly  or  monthly  payment  in  the  building  and  loan. 

"It  is  certainly  enough  cheaper  than  paying  rent 
to  own  a  home  while  the  rent  money  can  be  made  to 
pay  for  the  home;  and  if  maturities  were  extended  to 


BUILDING  AND  LOAN  333 

fifteen,  twenty,  or  twenty-five  years,  any  home  might 
be  bought  for  this  money  which  it  takes  to  pay  the 

rent.  . 

"I  built  a  house  at  Bethlehem,  and  was  very  timid 
about  entering  into  the  obligations  for  the  debt. 
The  house  I  built  rented  for  enough  money  to  pay 
the  building  and  loan  dues  and  interest,  and  I  had 
$1  a  month  left  over. 

"Some  time  ago  I  was  in  Bethlehem,  and  the 
agent  who  is  handling  the  house  for  me  said:  *You 
are  not  getting  over  three  or  four  per  cent,  net  out 
of  this  house;  why  don't  you  sell  it  and  invest  the 
money  down  South  where  you  would  make  a  better 
per  cent?'  I  told  him  that  the  house  didn't  cost 
me  anything,  the  tenant  paid  for  it,  and  being  the 
first  house  I  ever  built  and  owned,  I  could  afford  to 
keep  it  as  a  matter  of  sentiment.  I  looked  upon  it  as 
my  good-luck  house  or  mascot,  as  it  were,  because  it 
was  the  house  that  got  me  into  the  building  and  loan 
for  building  purposes  as  well  as  saving  purposes. 

"Practically  all  of  the  apprehensions  about  a 
building  and  loan  are  groundless.  If  one  gets  sick, 
the  money  may  be  drawn  out,  and  it  is  so  much  to 
the  good  against  the  sickness.  If  a  workman  loses 
his  job,  he  has  got  something  saved  against  his 
misfortune,  and  the  building  and  loan  will  turn  it 
over  to  him  promptly  upon  application.  Those  who 
have  never  been  into  a  building  and  loan  think  it  is 
hard  to  get  your  money  out  if  you  should  want  it. 
After  being  in  an  association  for  a  while,  almost 
any  man  will  conclude  that  it  is  almost  too  easy  to 
get  out.  He  would  rather  an  association  would  hold 
the  money  a  little  tighter,  and  keep  him  from  spend- 
ing it  too  lightly. 

"The  compulsory  principle,  which  is  only  a  sort  ot 


3S4  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

constrained  conscience  to  keep  up  with  the  rest,  is 
found  to  be  one  of  the  best  principles  in  the  world  to 
enforce  upon  oneself  regular  and  systematic  savings. 
It  never  becomes  irksome,  and  is  like  a  duty  well 
performed,  which  grows  more  satisfactory  the  more 
it  is  done.  The  principles  ought  to  be  taught  in 
the  public  schools. 

"Already  the  building  and  loans  have  grown  to 
such  magnitude  that  their  combined  assets  in  the 
United  States  about  equal  the  capital  of  the  national 
banks.  It  is  the  only  agency  that  has  been  success- 
ful in  turning  the  population  of  American  cities  into 
a  home-owning  population.  It  is  the  best  sort  of 
insurance  in  the  world  for  securing  a  home  for  the 
widow  of  a  man  who  is  dead.  No  man  could  leave 
anything  better  than  a  good  home  paid  for. 

"The  longer  the  time  of  the  payments,  the  smaller 
they  are.  In  Charlotte  the  term  of  six  and  a  half 
years  makes  it  necessary  for  the  installments  to  be  a 
little  more  than  the  rent  money.  In  Philadelphia, 
where  the  shares  are  $200  and  run  eleven  and  a  half 
years,  the  payments  would  average  probably  a  little 
less  than  the  rent  money.  Installment  payments 
if  extended  for  long  enough  time,  say  fifteen  or  twenty 
years,  would  make  the  installment  payments  much 
less  than  the  rent  money.  Therefore  it  seems  to  be 
folly  to  pay  rent  for  years  and  years  when  the 
rent  money  might  be  applied  on  the  price  of  a  home. 

"The  local  building  and  loan  associations  in 
America  have  become  great  institutions,  and  I 
believe  they  are  destined  to  become  still  greater. 
Through  them  may  ultimately  be  accomplished  the 
ownership  of  homes  by  all  working  people,  and  this 
ownership  will  be  no  burden,  but  will  simply  be  the 
application  of  the  rent  to  the  ownership  of  the  home." 


BUILDING  AND  LOAN  335 

Wherever  a  building  and  loan  association  was  a 
possibility  Tompkins  was  ready  to  help  promote  its 
organization.  He  associated  himself  in  this  work 
with  S.  Wittkowsky  of  Charlotte,  an  active,  energetic, 
and  prudent  business  man  and  capitalist,  afterward 
president  of  the  North  Carolina  League  of  Building 
&  Loan  Associations.  To  the  joint  efforts  of  Tomp- 
kins and  Wittkowsky  was  due,  either  directly  or  in- 
directly, the  establishment  of  most  of  the  building 
and  loan  associations  in  the  two  Carolinas.  Tomp- 
kins practically  canvassed  North  and  South  Carolina 
in  this  behalf.  His  speeches  were  carefully  written 
out  before  delivering,  and  afterward  were  given 
to  newspapers,  thus  reaching  a  multitude  of  readers 
and  serving  as  potential  sermons  for  economy.  The 
following  is  a  specimen,  a  fine  model  of  brevity, 
clearness,  and  cogency: 

SYNOPSIS   OF   AN   ADDRESS   IN   THE    INTEREST    OP 

ORGANIZING   A    BUILDING   AND    LOAN 

ASSOCIATION   IN   GASTONIA 

"Every  working  man  ought  to  own  the  house  he 
lives  in.  In  many  cases  the  rent  he  pays  is  ample  to 
pay  for  the  house  he  is  living  in  in  a  reasonable  time. 
In  all  cases  the  rent  he  pays  would  more  than  pay 
for  the  house  he  lives  in  in  the  average  working  life. 
In  almost  any  case  the  rent  with  very  little  additional 
money  will  pay  for  a  house  in  from  six  to  twelve  years. 
The  difficulties  which  stand  in  the  way  of  a  working 
man  owning  his  own  house  and  paying  for  it  with  rent 
money  are  as  follows : 

"1.  The  average  man  will  not  put  aside  a  cer- 
tain fixed  proportion  of  his  income  or  wages,  except 
under  a  little  coercion  or  pressure.     If  he  starts  in  to 


336  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

put  up  an  amount  of  money  in  the  Savings  Bank,  he 
does  not  keep  it  up  regularly. 

*'2.  He  would  usually  have  to  save  the  money 
to  pay  for  a  house  while  yet  paying  rent  money  and 
this  is  too  burdensome. 

"The  building  and  loan  provides  a  means  by  which 
a  working  man,  having  saved  enough  money  to  buy 
a  lot,  can  then  build  a  house  and  have  the  association 
pay  for  it,  and  then  pay  back  the  debt  in  install- 
ments exactly  like  he  formerly  paid  rent,  his  rent 
money  going  as  part  of  the  installments.  It  is  even 
possible  for  a  working  man  without  any  money 
at  all  to  buy  a  lot  on  credit  and  upon  the  condition 
that  the  building  and  loan  will  put  a  house  upon  it, 
taking  a  first  mortgage  for  the  house  and  the  man 
who  sold  the  lot  taking  a  second  mortgage  on  the 
whole  property  for  the  lot.  Every  payment  to  the 
building  and  loan  reduces  the  first  mortgage  and  the 
second  mortgage  is  becoming  proportionately  in 
the  position  of  a  first  mortgage.  When  the  build- 
ing and  loan  shall  have  been  paid  back,  then  in  a  new 
series  the  building  and  loan  could  pay  the  second 
mortgage  off,  and  then  let  the  owner  again  pay  by 
installments  and  in  the  end  clear  up  the  whole  debt. 
WTiile  the  building  and  loan  association  is  particu- 
larly advantageous  to  the  working  man,  it  is  a  good 
thing  for  the  merchant,  the  school  teacher,  the  law- 
yer, or  preacher  and  all  others  who  in  reality  are  also 
working  people. 

"I  know  of  nothing  that  builds  up  a  town  more 
rapidly  than  a  building  and  loan  association.  Next 
to  the  churches,  schools,  and  the  beneficent  organiza- 
tions, the  building  and  loan  association  when  properly 
conducted  has  more  influence  for  good  than  any  other 
organization  that  I  know  of.     It  establishes  homes 


BUILDING  AND  LOAN  337 

for  those  who  are  in  the  habit  of  thinking  they 
cannot  afford  them.  It  improves  the  character  of 
the  population  of  any  toTvn  or  city,  because  it  leads 
people  to  live  in  their  own  homes.  It  raises  the  hopes, 
the  self-respect,  and  the  other  better  qualities  of  a 
man.  A  man  being  established  in  his  own  home 
takes  more  interest  in  his  neighbors  and  they  take 
more  in  him.  He  is  more  apt  to  take  a  hand  in 
church  work  or  library  work  and  to  send  his  children 
to  school,  than  if  living  in  a  hired  house.  It  adds  to 
the  wealth  and  taxable  values  of  a  city. 

"Nothing  is  more  important  than  that  the  associa- 
tion shall  be  properly  organized.  Where  the  ad- 
vantages are  fully  understood  there  is  no  difficulty 
about  this,  because  when  a  community  once  under- 
stands a  building  and  loan  it  cannot  be  misled  by  a 
spurious  institution.  All  loans  should  be  made  on 
property  within  a  comparatively  narrow  and  local 
area,  say  within  a  mile  or  within  two  miles  of  the 
court  house  or  some  central  point. 

"For  a  people  to  prosper  and  grow  rich  is  not 
necessarily  a  matter  of  money.  It  is  simply  a  matter 
of  turning  clay  into  bricks,  of  putting  the  bricks  into 
walls  to  make  building,  of  cutting  timber  and  making 
lumber  and  of  putting  the  lumber  into  houses.  A 
people  who  handle  very  little  money  may  do  all  these 
things.  The  building  and  loan  simply  provides  the 
means  by  which  people  may  do  these  things  with  ex- 
ceedingly little  money.  The  aggregate  membership 
pays  in  one  thousand  dollars.  The  money  is  turned 
over  to  one  member  who  builds  a  house  and  pays  for 
it.  The  money  goes  into  trade  and  falls  back  into 
the  hands  of  the  members  again.  It  is  paid  in  again, 
and  practically  the  same  thousand  dollars  is  turned 
over  to  another  member  who  builds  a  house  and  pays 


338  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

for  it.  The  money  is  again  paid  out,  goes  into  the 
usual  channels  of  trade,  falls  back  into  the  hands  of 
the  original  members,  and  is  again  paid  in — and  so  on 
indefinitely  until  perhaps  one  hundred  houses  aggre- 
gating in  value  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  have 
been  built  and  paid  for  with  the  same  one  thousand 
dollars  and  this  one  thousand  dollars  has  been  ac- 
tively circulating  in  trade  all  the  time.  Besides  the 
material  property  accumulated,  there  is  tremendous 
advantage  in  teaching  the  possibilities  that  may 
come  of  regular  savings,  and  it  is  seldom  that  one 
who  has  had  experience  in  a  building  and  loan  associa- 
tion does  not  also  in  time  become  a  good  depositor 
in  the  savings  banks.  The  profit  made  is  generally 
about  7  per  cent,  on  the  money  paid  in,  but  if  there 
was  no  profit,  it  would  still  be  advantageous  be- 
cause usually  the  whole  aggregate  sum  saved  would 
not  have  been  saved  at  all  except  by  the  regular 
payments  into  the  building  and  loan." 

To  establish  a  building  and  loan  association  in  his 
native  town  of  Edgefield  was  a  work  of  joy  with 
Tompkins.  His  heart  and  his  head  were  given  to  it. 
Here,  as  elsewhere,  his  labors  in  this  field  were  en- 
tirely gratuitous  and  humanitarian.  The  following 
announcement  of  the  Edgefield  B.  &  L.  Association 
shows  his  power  of  clear-cut  statement,  his  desire  to 
stimulate  thrift  and  business  habits,  his  strong,  sen- 
sible humanitarianism,  based  upon  confidence  in 
human  nature  and  desire  to  develop  character 
through  self-reliance  and  self-help. 


"home  money  for  home  people" 

"The  Edgefield  Building  &  Loan  Association  has 
money  to  loan  to  its  members.     It  invites  working 


BUn.DING  AND  LOAN  339 

people  to  become  members.  It  is  a  savings  in- 
stitution as  well  as  the  working  man's  bank.  While 
some  kind  of  property  security  is  required  in  all 
cases  to  make  a  loan  perfectly  safe,  yet  the  real 
basis  of  credit  is  the  borrower's  labor — his  willing- 
ness to  work  and  the  known  fact  that  he  is  an  ener- 
getic worker.  By  work  and  the  income  from  work 
the  association  will  get  back  all  the  money  it  loans  a 
working  man.  It  will  not  loan  on  property  with  any 
prospect  of  having  to  take  the  property. 

"The  working  man  may  be  a  carpenter,  lawyer, 
farmer,  merchant,  spinner,  bricklayer,  doctor,  weaver, 
or  any  other  working  man  who  is  energetic  and  active 
and  earns  wages,  fees,  or  other  compensations  as  the 
result  of  his  labor. 

"The  association  will  require  all  its  members  to 
pay  exactly  as  they  agree  to  pay.  It  has  been  the 
habit  in  the  South  for  the  borrower  to  consider  that 
the  bank  or  other  loaner  of  money  could  notify  the 
borrower  when  a  note  or  other  debt  was  due.  If  it 
wasn't  convenient  to  pay  it  when  due,  then  some 
other  day  later  would  do  as  well.  Good  credit  means 
prompt  payment  at  maturity.  The  association  will 
require  its  members  to  make  all  payments  as  agreed 
and  without  notice  and  without  being  dunned  in  any 
way. 

"This  is  not  done  for  the  benefit  of  the  association 
but  for  the  benefit  of  its  members.  The  first  lesson 
looking  to  success  is  the  volunteer  prompt  pay- 
ment of  debts,  and  the  association  will  teach  this 
lesson. 

"This  does  not  mean  that  the  association  will  be 
relentless  when  a  man  can't  pay.  It  means  that  the 
man  must  not  ignore  the  fact  that  his  promise 
was  matured  and  he  must  either  pay  at  maturity 


340  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

or  voluntarily  call  on  the  treasurer  and  make  some 
arrangement  or  be  fined  for  delinquency. 

"The  association  can  arrange  for  farmers  to  repay 
loans  in  annual  installments  in  three  payments  in 
the  fall,  viz.:  September  15th,  October  15th,  and 
November  15th.  Mechanics  working  for  wages  pay 
by  the  week  or  month.  The  payments  are  made 
suitable  to  all  classes  of  working  people. 

"This  is  a  local  or  home  institution.  It  is  to  be 
managed  at  home  and  all  the  money  will  be  loaned 
at  home.  None  can  be  loaned  outside  of  Edgefield 
County.  Instead  of  sending  away  to  borrow  money 
from  land  loan  companies  or  from  foreign  building 
and  loan  associations,  with  a  lot  of  discounts,  this 
home  institution  will  accumulate  the  savings  of 
home  people  and  loan  these  accumulations  to  home 
people. 

The  home  building  and  loan  association  has  been 
successful  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States.  Its 
workings  when  in  the  hands  of  competent  and  honest 
home  people  and  when  all  loans  are  confined  to 
home  people  have  always  been  profitable  and  advan- 
tageous. 

"  This  association  runs  two  series  of  shares  or  mem- 
berships each  year.  One  commences  January  1st  and 
one  July  1st.  Any  one  wishing  to  join  may  do  so  at 
any  time  by  paying  the  back  dues  to  either  of  the 
above  periods. 

"The  shares  are  $100  each.  The  dues  are  $1.00 
per  month  for  each  share.  In  seven  years  or  less 
the  shares  mature.  Therefore,  when  a  member 
subscribes  for  one  share  and  pays  one  dollar  per 
month  for  seven  years  (or  less  perhaps)  he  draws 
out  $100.  Five  dollars  per  month  for  the  same 
period  would  make  $500. 


BUILDING  AND  LOAN  341 

"Meantime  money  may  be  borrowed  at  any  time 
on  proper  security  and  then  interest  would  be  paid 
in  addition  to  the  dues. 

"The  association  is  the  best  sort  of  savings  in- 
stitution known  in  the  world.  It  is  also  the  best 
place  in  the  world  for  a  working  man  to  borrow 
money.     He  can  pay  it  back  by  installments. 

"The  asscoiation  invites  those  who  have  energy 
and  mean  to  make  a  success  of  life  to  become  mem- 
bers. 

"Nothing  stimulates  or  brightens  a  young  man  up 
so  much  as  to  assume  a  little  responsibility  for  the 
purpose  of  getting  a  start  toward  getting  ahead  in 
the  world. 

"In  Pennsylvania  and  other  parts  of  the  United 
States  where  home  building  and  loan  associations 
have  prospered  for  a  long  time  many  a  leading  rich 
man  got  his  first  $100,  $200,  $500,  or  $1,000  out  of 
the  building  and  loan  association." 

The  interest  of  Tompkins  in  B.  &.  L.  Associations 
was  not  confined  to  the  South.  In  their  behalf  he 
wrote  many  articles  to  Northern  magazines  and 
papers,  and  made  addresses  before  various  national 
associations. 

An  article  in  Cassier's  Magazine,  March,  1903, 
entitled  "Working  People's  Homes",  was  copied 
and  quoted  extensively  by  newspapers  and  weekly 
journals  throughout  the  country.  The  article  is  a 
complete  summary  of  the  advantages  of  building 
and  loan  associations;  its  closing  paragraphs  are 
worthy  of  Franklin: 

"  There  is  no  help  for  working  people  that  compares 
with  the  help  they  provide  for  themselves.  Munifi- 
cent philanthropy  is  as  nothing  compared  with  a 
morsel  of  self-help.     The  one  may  be  fruitless  or  even 


342  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

injurious;  the  other  is  always  strengthening  and 
fruitful. 

"Working  people  have  far  more  resource  and  abil- 
ity to  pay  their  own  way,  and  to  pay  for  what  they 
get,  than  is  generally  supposed.  Indeed,  most  of 
them  pay  extravagantly  for  what  they  get.  In 
many  cases  they  pay  enough  rent  for  a  cheap  and 
uncomfortable  house  to  pay,  in  a  very  few  years,  for 
a  good,  comfortable  house,  and  own  it  in  fee  simple. 
It  is  the  opportunity  to  do  this  latter  thing,  rather 
than  financial  help,  that  they  need — even  if  the  help 
is  called  philanthropic  or  semi-philanthropic.  The 
greatest  mistake  of  the  philanthropist  is  usually 
judging  others  by  his  own  tastes  or  ideas.  He  too 
frequently  fails  to  give  either  support  or  sympathy 
to  what  the  working  man  wants  to  do,  but  he  insists 
that  the  working  man  shall  do  as  the  philanthropist 
wants  him  to  do. 

"Laws  and  conditions  that  place  opportunity 
within  the  reach  of  the  working  man  himself,  and  for 
himself,  do  more  good  for  his  advancement  than  all 
actual  contributions  in  money  or  advice  that  could 
possibly  be  made.  All  humanity  can  be  brought 
to  lose  courage  and  heart  by  being  given  no  chance. 
There  are  so  many  ways  by  which  working  people 
are  cheated  out  of,  or  otherwise  deprived  of,  savings, 
that  many  a  one  is  brought  to  feel  that  he  had  rather 
squander  his  surplus  earnings  than  put  them  where 
he  might  likely  lose  them  for  the  advantage  of  some- 
body else.  With  a  knowledge,  however,  that  what 
is  saved  is  safe  for  himself  the  workingman  becomes 
a  capitalist. 

"It  is  rare  that  a  working  man  needs  charity  or  any 
kind  of  free  help.  Make  for  him  a  fair  opportunity 
and  good  security  for  his  savings,  show  him  the  op- 


BUILDING  AND  LOAN  S4S 

portunities,  convince  him  that  they  are  safe,  then 
give  him  friendly  encouragement,  and  the  chances  are 
he  will  succeed.  But  to  do  so  he  must  be  left  perfect 
freedom  to  undertake  something  according  to  his 
own  tastes,  and  not  be  pressed  into  doing  something 
that  somebody  else  thinks  he  ought  to  do.  Good 
advice  is  all  right,  but  it  is  all  wrong  to  press  on  the 
working  man  methods  of  spending  his  earnings  and 
savings  that  are  contrary  to  his  tastes  and  what  he 
considers  his  requirements. 

"Good  philanthropy  for  the  working  man  is,  more 
than  all  else,  opportunity  and  freedom." 

A  series  of  articles  in  the  Manufacturers'  Record, 
beginning  August  25,  1904,  entitled,  "Building  and 
Loan  Associations:  The  Means  of  Cooperative  Sav- 
ings by  Southern  Working  People",  discussed  all 
phases  of  the  subject,  both  American  and  foreign. 
This  article  was  copied  and  quoted  extensively, 
reaching  practically  the  entire  South,  and  exerting  a 
great  influence  in  promoting  thrift  and  economy. 
Southern  newspapers  everywhere  called  for  buildin^^ 
and  loan  associations;  and  Tompkins  was  in  constant 
demand  as  a  speaker  on  this  subject.  His  presence 
rarely  failed  to  secure  an  association,  and  in  many 
places  his  name  was  sufficient. 

It  was  characteristic  of  Tompkins  to  follow  an  idea 
to  its  logical  conclusion,  to  incorporate  a  good  prin- 
ciple into  as  many  instrumentalities  as  possible.  The 
principle  of  self-help  and  cooperation,  of  self-help 
through  cooperation,  and  of  cooperation  through  self- 
help  was  the  darling  of  his  mind.  He  had  put  this 
principle  to  work  among  Southern  laboring  people 
in  cities  and  towns  through  the  agency  of  building 
and  loan  associations;  now  he  aimed  to  do  the  same 
work  for  rural  laborers  through  rural  credit  societies, 


344  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

or  land  loan  banks.     The  following  article  is  a  sample 
of  his  writing  on  this  subject: 


LAND   CREDIT   SOCIETIES 

*'The  European  agricultural  credit  system  is  ex- 
actly the  same  thing  as  our  building  and  loan  associa- 
tions with  payments  made  to  suit  the  marketing  of 
the  crops. 

"Our  building  and  loan  system  has  succeeded 
without  government  aid  or  appropriation.  So  also 
the  land  loan  banks  for  farmers'  credit  societies 
of  Europe  have  succeeded  without  government  aid  or 
appropriation.  Self-help  is  the  main  feature  of  our 
building  and  loan  associations,  or  mechanics'  co- 
operative banks,  and  so  is  self-help  the  main  feature 
of  the  European  land  credits. 

"There  is  absolutely  nothing  to  keep  any  com- 
munity in  this  country  from  organizing  a  land  credit 
society  similar  to  those  in  Europe  and  without  gov- 
ernment aid  or  any  special  legislation.  If  these  ever 
become  rich  as  they  are  in  Europe,  and  as  our  build- 
ing and  loans  are  in  this  country,  they  will  need  some 
State  or  Federal  regulation.  But  to  start  with,  there 
is  nothing  necessary  except  to  form  a  society  and 
commence  the  installment  payments.  It  has  often 
been  pointed  out  that  these  installment  payments 
should  correspond  with  the  marketing  of  the  crops. 
The  politicians  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  starting 
of  the  Eurbpean  farmers'  credit  system.  Neither 
did  they  have  to  do  with  the  starting  of  the  American 
building  and  loan  associations.  All  talk  of  the  Gov- 
ernment furnishing  money  for  these  is  in  error.  The 
Government  should  furnish  no  money.  It  does 
not  do  it  in  the  case  of  the  building  and  loan  associa- 


BUILDING  AND  LOAN  345 

tions,  and  these  would  have  been  ruined  if  it  had  done 
it. 

"The  plan  of  forming  these  land  loan  banks  is 
precisely  the  same  as  that  of  forming  the  building 
and  loan  association.  A  certain  number  of  farmers 
subscribe  to  shares  in  the  land  loan  bank.  There 
is  to  be  paid  on  each  share  one  hundred  dollars,  par 
value,  twelve  dollars  per  year,  in  such  installments 
as  may  be  determined  by  the  board  of  directors. 
In  a  cotton-growing  country  this  would  naturally 
be  in  about  four  installments  of  three  dollars  each, 
on  the  first  of  October,  November,  December,  and 
January.  Each  subscriber  paying  in  these  install- 
ments puts  the  bank  in  a  position  to  make  one  or  two 
or  more  good  loans  to  farmer  members  of  the  society. 
Borrowers,  of  course,  pay  interest  on  the  money  they 
borrow.  The  shares  would  mature  in  a  time  some- 
thing between  six  and  seven  years.  Those  who  had 
not  borrowed  at  all  would  get  the  cash  at  the  end 
of  the  term;  those  who  did  borrow  would  get  the 
debt  cancelled  at  the  end  of  the  term.  Thus  the 
farmer  becomes  his  own  banker  and  a  very  successful 
one  in  Germany  he  is.  Formerly  these  land  loan 
banks  of  Germany  borrowed  money  to  loan  to  their 
members.  Some  of  them  do  so  still,  but  the  great 
majority  of  them  now  have  surplus  money  which 
they  loan  to  the  city  bankers.  Perhaps  no  set  of 
farmers  in  the  world  are  better  fixed  to  do  their  own 
banking  in  this  way  than  the  Southern  cotton  pro- 
ducers." 

For  ten  years  or  more,  in  the  Charlotte  Observer 
and  other  papers,  he  hammered  out  this  idea,  educat- 
ing the  public  mind  to  an  appreciation  of  its  import- 
ance. "During  a  period  of  more  than  ten  years, 
this  paper  has  been  agitating  the  subject  of  install- 


346  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

merit  savings  and  loan  associations,  and  incidentally 
has  referred  frequently  to  the  existence  in  Europe 
of  land  loan  banks  as  being  exactly  the  same  thing 
as  our  building  and  loan  except  that  the  installment 
payments  are  made  to  suit  the  maturing  of  the  crops 
instead  of  to  suit  monthly  or  weekly  wages.  It  is 
very  gratifying  to  note  that  this  subject  has  been 
lately  taken  up  by  President  Taft,  and  was  one  of 
the  matters  of  interest  in  the  late  governors'  con- 
ference at  Richmond.  These  land  loan  banks 
have  been  as  successful  in  Europe  for  the  farmer  as 
the  local  building  and  loan  association  has  been  in 
the  United  States  and  England  for  the  industrial 
worker." 

Tompkins  was  thus  forerunner  and  herald  of  the 
"Federal  Farm  Loan  Act,"  which  provides  a  system 
for  lending  money  on  farm  lands  at  reasonable  in- 
terest for  relatively  long  periods.  It  provides  for 
the  creation  of  twelve  Federal  land  banks  and  per- 
mits the  establishment  of  any  number  of  joint  stock 
land  banks.  Its  primary  purpose  is  to  promote 
agricultural  prosperity  by  enabling  farmers  to  borrow 
money  on  farm  mortgage  security.  This  x\ct,  pop- 
ularly called  the  Rural  Credits  Law,  became  a  law 
July  17,  1916. 

A  further  application  of  the  principle  of  self-help 
through  cooperation  was  now  made  in  the  life  insur- 
ance policies  of  the  Equitable  Life  Assurance  Society, 
of  which  Tompkins  was  at  the  time  an  active  and 
influential  director.  It  is  known  as  the  Home  Pur- 
chase Plan.  Under  this  plan  loans  are  made  by  the 
society  to  its  policy-holders,  secured  by  mortgage 
on  the  home,  and  paid  in  monthly  installments  for  a 
period  of  ten,  in  some  cases  fifteen,  years.  In  case 
of  death  the  insurance  pays  off  the  loan.     "Mr. 


BUILDING  AND  LOAN  347 

Tompkins  was  a  member  of  the  original  Committee 
of  the  Board  of  Directors  appointed  by  Paul  Morton 
because  of  his  keen  interest  in  and  advocacy  of  this 
plan  when  it  was  first  broached,  based  upon  his  close 
association  with  the  building  and  loan  associations 
of  Charlotte/'  said  Henry  L.  Rosenfeld,  second 
vice-president  of  the  Equitable  Society.  "He  pre- 
pared a  pamphlet  on  the  Home  Acquiring  Plan  of 
the  Equitable  which  was  quite  helpful  to  us,  and 
contributed  very  materially  to  the  conversion  of 
some  of  his  fellow  directors  at  that  time  to  the 
plan.  The  writer  personally  having  had  charge  of 
the  matter  desires  to  bear  testimony  to  the  co- 
operation and  valuable  assistance  rendered  by  our 
late  friend,  Mr.  Tompkins,  in  the  furtherance  of 
this  idea." 

In  promoting  building  and  loan  associations,  in 
advocating  farm  banks,  in  helping  to  inaugurate 
the  Equitable  Home  Purchase  Plan  of  Life  Insurance 
Tompkins  was  animated  by  an  intense  philanthropic 
desire  to  benefit  humanity  by  providing,  as  far  as 
possible,  a  comfortable  home  for  every  American 
family. 

"That  country,"  said  he,  "is  always  the  most 
prosperous  whose  work  people  have  the  best  home 
life.  Home  life  conduces  to  the  highest  wages,  the 
best  education  and  training,  and  the  greatest  pros- 
perity of  a  nation  and  of  all  its  people. 

"  The  mechanic  who  builds  a  home,  sends  his  chil- 
dren to  school,  and  otherwise  identifies  himself  with 
a  community  of  good  people,  has  an  important 
advantage  over  the  one  who  comes  to-day  and  may 
go  to-morrow.  He  becomes  a  citizen,  a  neighbor, 
a  friend,  where,  before,  even  though  a  good  mechanic, 
and  well  thought  of,  he  had  no  particular  standing 


348  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

in  any  community.  His  better  situation  makes 
better  opportunities  for  his  children.  Identification 
with  a  community  and  its  people  always  makes  a 
better  condition  for  any  family.  The  home  and 
the  binding  of  the  family  to  the  community  are 
largely  the  basis  of  Anglo-Saxon  strength  and  Anglo- 
Saxon  civilization." 


CHAPTER  XIX 

VARIOUS  ACTIVITIES — CHARLOTTE  AND  EDGEFIELD 

WITH  unceasing  activity  Tompkins  per- 
formed his  great  work  as  builder  of  mills, 
colleges,  and  newspapers,  as  author  of  indus- 
trial books,  as  builder  and  distributor  of  industrial 
machinery.  His  versatility,  powers  of  concentra- 
tion, and  retentive  memory  enabled  him  to  carry  on 
simultaneously  very  many  diverse  and  widely  sepa- 
rated enterprises.  Like  the  perfect  chess  player, 
who  plays  at  one  time  a  dozen  different  games  with 
a  dozen  adversaries,  Tompkins  carried  on  simultane- 
ously in  many  Southern  states  a  score  of  industrial 
enterprises.  His  larger  activities  covered  the  entire 
South,  not  only  as  promoter  and  builder  but  as 
writer,  orator,  teacher,  preacher,  and  apostle  of  in- 
dustrialism. 

His  minor  activities,  extending  in  many  directions, 
were  chiefly  in  the  two  Carolinas.  No  forward  move- 
ment of  magnitude  or  promise  during  his  lifetime 
in  these  two  states  escaped  his  sympathetic  attention. 
Industrial  enterprises,  educational  reforms  and  im- 
provements, plans  and  organizations  for  promoting 
thrift  and  economy,  schools,  hospitals,  parks,  sanita- 
tion, all  movements  and  instrumentalities  for  human 
betterment  received  his  constant  attention  and,  if 
deserving,  his  endorsement  and  helpful  cooperation. 
He  kept  in  the  field  for  the  Charlotte  Observer  a 
regular  reporter  of  industrial  movements ;  and  special 

349 


S50  A  BTJILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

reporters  were  sent  to  write  up  newly  organized 
industrial  enterprises  and  industrial  celebrations. 
Industrial  experts,  or  promoters,  from  other  states, 
if  working  or  visiting  in  the  Carolinas,  wene  sought 
out  and  interviewed;  and  their  views  on  industrial 
matters  were  given  prominence  in  all  departments 
of  his  papers.  His  three  papers  were  daily  preachers 
of  thrift  and  industrial  progress.  News  columns, 
reporters'  columns,  and  editorial  columns  gave  con- 
stant and  never-ending  emphasis  to  industrial  move- 
ments and  enterprises. 

Tompkins  himself  would  go  at  his  own  expense 
and  frequently  at  much  inconvenience  to  a  distant 
community  to  promote  an  industrial  enterprise. 
He  would  promote  it  not  only  by  clear-cut  facts  and 
figures  but  also  by  stirring  appeals  to  local  feeling 
and  Southern  pride.  Having  aroused  public  senti- 
ment to  the  point  of  action,  he  would  assist  in  effect- 
ing the  necessary  organization,  draw  the  engineering 
plans  for  the  proposed  industrial  establishment,  and, 
if  occasion  required,  subscribe  for  stock  in  amount 
sufficient  to  start  the  enterprise.  It  came  to  be 
understood  in  the  two  Carolinas  that  Tompkins* 
experience,  engineering  skill,  and  financial  help  were 
available  for  any  meritorious  industrial  enterprise 
that  needed  assistance  to  set  it  going. 

His  speeches  and  pamphlets  on  good  roads,  broad 
tires,  road  building  and  repairs,  farm  and  factory, 
cottonseed  and  its  products,  beef  and  dairy  cattle, 
trade  schools,  early  education,  building  and  loan 
associations,  and  similar  subjects  were  scattered 
broadcast,  and  produced  throughout  the  Carolinas 
a  pregnant  spirit  of  progress  and  a  harvest  of  in- 
dustrial establishments. 

His  work  in  Charlotte,  as  builder  and  promoter  of 


VARIOUS  ACTIVITIES  351 

industrial  establishments,  as  manufacturer  and  dis- 
tributor of  cotton  mill  machinery,  as  builder  and  con- 
troller of  independent  and  industrial  newspapers,  as 
promoter  of  building  and  loan  associations,  gave  the 
little  city  a  power  and  a  fame  possessed  by  no  city 
of  its  size  in  the  entire  South.  The  Atherton  Cotton 
Mills,  the  D.  A.  Tompkins  Co.'s  machine  shops  and 
foundry,  the  Charlotte  Observer  and  the  Evening 
Chronicle  were  institutions  worthy  of  a  large  city. 
His  administration  of  these  establishments  was  on  a 
high  plane  of  efficiency  and  public  spirit;  progressive, 
broad -gauged,  full  of  hopefulness  and  enthusiasm. 
They  set  the  tune  for  the  little  city.  The  Tompkins 
illuminated  tower  stood  out  above  the  city,  and 
marked  it  for  miles,  especially  at  night,  with  its 
brilliant  electric  lights  shining  like  a  constellation  of 
hope  and  typifying  the  spirit  of  industry  and  cheerful- 
ness that  animated  its  workers.  The  same  spirit  was 
imparted  by  Tompkins  to  a  score  of  industrial  enter- 
prises in  which  he  was  director  or  stockholder.  His 
spirit  was  contagious.  Under  his  direction  in  his 
various  industrial  establishments  were  trained  many 
young  men  whose  successful  careers  in  Charlotte 
and  elsewhere  testify  not  only  to  his  fine  business 
methods  but  also  to  his  far-reaching  work  as  an  in- 
dustrial trainer  and  educator.  His  industrial  method 
and  ideals  were  thus  extended  very  widely  through- 
out the  Carolinas. 

His  newspapers,  while  tireless  advocates  of  in- 
dustrial progress,  were  no  less  zealous  and  efficient 
in  promoting  civic  development.  They  stood  in  the 
front  rank  of  many  battles  for  reform  and  improve- 
ment. They  carried  the  flag  of  progress.  They 
fought  not  for  partisan  triumph  but  for  human 
betterment.     Philanthropy,  not  politics,   was  their 


352  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

aim.  Day  by  day  they  made  clarion  calls  for  prog- 
ress and  improvement,  sounding  amid  the  fog  of 
political  partisanship  the  clear  note  of  reason  and 
patriotism.  The  following  is  one  of  a  thousand  calls 
made  during  twenty  years  by  Tompkins'  papers: 


WHAT    CHARLOTTE    NEEDS 

"1 — Improved  educational  facilities  in  the  entire 
city  and  a  school  building  in  the  Fourth  Ward. 

"2 — Clean  streets  and  the  breaking  up  of  loafing 
crowds  on  the  streets. 

"3 — The  enforcement  of  measures  for  temperance 
to  the  full  limit  without  becoming  sumptuary. 

"4 — Fostering  the  city's  commercial  and  manu- 
facturing interests. 

"5 — The  execution  of  exact  justice,  tempered  with 
a  judicial  mercy,  but  without  harassing  the  unfor- 
tunate with  prosecutions  about  little  things  or  tolerat- 
ing neglect  by  and  incompetence  of  oflScers  of  the 
law  in  larger  things. 

"6 — Advancing  the  interests  of  skilled  and  other 
labor,  as  well  as  conserving  vested  interests,  without 
using  the  people's  tax  money  to  improve  private 
property." 

Tompkins  was  often  urged  to  become  Mayor  of 
Charlotte,  but  steadily  refused.  It  was  a  political 
oflBce,  won  by  political  campaigns  and  held  by  po- 
litical manipulation.  He  could  not  work  in  political 
harness.  But  he  worked  to  build  up  Charlotte; 
worked  longer,  more  zealously,  and  more  efiiciently 
than  all  its  mayors  and  politicians  combined.  He 
was  a  model  of  thrift  and  industry  to  the  entire  city. 
He  constantly  preached  thrift  and  industry  to  the 
working  men  of  Charlotte,  and  urged  upon  them  the 


VARIOUS  ACTIVITIES  353 

vital  importance  of  owning  their  own  homes.  His 
writings  and  speeches  on  this  subject  would  fill 
many  volumes.  His  labors  were  fruitful.  He  lived 
to  see  Charlotte  a  city  of  homes,  unsurpassed  by 
few  manufacturing  cities  in  the  United  States  in  the 
percentage  of  hand-workmen  owning  their  own  homes. 
It  was  one  of  Tompkins'  ideals  that  every  family 
should  live  in  its  own  home.  He  pursued  this  ideal, 
and  promoted  it,  in  the  spirit  of  true  philanthropy, 
humanitarianism  and  patriotism. 

Charlotte's  schools  and  hospitals,  its  public  libra- 
ries, the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  Young 
Women's  Christian  Association,  public  parks  and 
buildings,  railway  connections  and  accommodations, 
waterworks  and  sewerage,  sanitation  and  health, 
were  objects  of  his  constant  and  sympathetic  con- 
sideration. He  would  praise,  criticise,  or  condemn, 
as  the  case  required.  As  chairman  of  the  city  "Tree 
and  Park  Commission"  he  secured  a  skilled  landscape 
gardener  of  national  repute  to  lay  out  a  scheme  of 
improvements.  As  assistant  architect  and  builder 
and  one  of  its  chief  promoters  and  stockholders  he 
secured  for  the  city  its  handsome  modern  sanatorium. 
His  views  were  broad  and  progressive.  He  had  seen 
what  was  best  in  Europe  and  America;  and  he  de- 
sired for  Charlotte  only  what  was  worthy. 

For  Charlotte  Tompkins  was  an  organizer  and 
builder  not  only  of  material  but  also  of  spiritual 
forces.  He  knew  that  self-sacrifice,  service,  and  social 
spirit  are  essential  to  a  city's  growth,  no  less  than 
toil,  thrift,  and  enterprise.  In  an  address  before  the 
Greater  Charlotte  Club  he  emphasized  this  idea. 
"It  used  to  be  thought,"  said  he,  "that  great  cities 
grow  only  on  the  water.  This  was  because  of  the 
natural    situation   favorable   to    cheap   transit.    It 


354  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

is  not  the  harbors  which  have  made  cities  on  the 
coast,  but  the  coming  and  going  of  the  commercial 
people  of  the  world.  The  ocean  and  the  harbor 
make  facilities  for  free  commercial  intercourse.  It 
is  known  the  world  over  that  coast  cities  are  more 
liberal  in  social  and  commercial  intercourse  than 
those  which  are  not  in  the  tide  of  commerce.  There- 
fore, we  may  see  that  the  points  of  contact  with 
the  big  world  is  where  the  greatest  liberality  develops, 
is  where  the  cosmopolitan  ideas  take  root,  is  where 
the  social  and  commercial  intercourse  is  freest  and 
most  liberal,  and  where  industrial  and  commercial 
development  is  greatest.  The  development  of  the 
useful  sciences  is  parallel  with  that  of  manufactures 
and  commerce.  Following  these  come  literature, 
art,  and  all  the  concomitants  of  higher  civilization, 
provided  there  is  an  underlying  foundation  of  Chris- 
tian principles. 

**At  Charlotte  we  are  neither  upon  the  ocean  nor 
upon  any  stream  of  water.  But  we  are  upon  lines 
of  railroad,  which  makes  it  possible  for  us  to  have  as 
close  elbow  touch  with  the  big  world  as  though  we 
were  on  the  ocean  itself.  With  railways  as  an  arti- 
ficial means  of  commerce  the  old  handicap  of  an 
inland  city  is  gone.  Not  only  is  the  old  handicap 
gone,  but  the  advantage  of  a  model  climate  to 
live  in  and  the  power  in  the  mountain  stream  become 
incalculable  advantages.  It  required  constant  exer- 
tion, large  investments  of  money,  and  the  cultivation 
of  a  personal  and  commercial  intercourse  to  secure 
for  Charlotte  her  railway  connections.  It  was  the 
cosmopolitan  spirit  of  the  last  generation  and  their 
investments  in  railroads  which  made  a  city  here. 
These  means  of  transportation  did  not  come  unsought 
nor  without  a  hospitable  welcome. 


VARIOUS  ACTIVITIES  3o5 

**This  club  should  keep  it  in  mind  that  it  requires 
but  little  effort  to  make  an  atmosphere  in  which  so- 
cial and  commercial  intercourse  may  be  enlarged 
and  made  more  liberal.  To  create  this  atmosphere 
of  liberality  and  hospitality  requires  the  same  ex- 
ertion that  was  made  by  former  generations  to  pro- 
cure the  building  of  the  railroads.  A  tendency  of  a 
club  of  congenial  spirits  is  naturally  toward  having 
things  comfortable  for  themselves,  and  this  tendency 
may  continue  until  the  atmosphere  becomes  inhos- 
pitable to  the  stranger,  and  fosters  a  sort  of  selfish 
seclusion.  Charlotte's  railroads  were  not  secured 
without  self-sacrifice  and  the  investment  of  money. 
A  large  social  and  commercial  intercourse  with  the 
outside  world  is  always  difficult  to  get  without  self- 
sacrifice  and  without  money.  An  association  of  gen- 
tlemen ought  always  to  be  willing  to  put  themselves 
out  in  order  to  make  the  city  a  hospitable  haven 
for  the  great  tide  of  the  travelling  public.  If  this 
be  done  and  be  constantly  kept  up,  the  city  will  al- 
ways have  an  atmosphere  of  liberality  and  hospi- 
tality which  will  w^in  the  stranger,  and  in  turn  win 
the  coming  and  going  commerce,  and  in  turn  build 
itself  to  be  a  Greater  Charlotte  in  fact  as  well  as  in 
aspiration." 

At  industrial  or  educational  celebrations  in  Char- 
lotte he  was  in  demand  as  a  speaker — not  as  a  spread- 
eagle  orator,  but  as  a  fountain  of  new  ideas,  an  in- 
spirer  of  new  activities,  a  teacher,  preacher,  and  pro- 
moter of  industrial  enterprises  and  virtues.  His 
addresses  were  carefully  prepared  and  full  of  thought; 
instructive,  inspiring,  and  worthy  to  be  read  many 
times.  They  were  usually  published  in  pamphlet 
form,  as  well  as  in  the  press;  and  were  carefully 
preserved  in  business  offices  and  private  libraries. 


S56  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

Notable  addresses  by  him  were  those  before  the 
Manual  Training  Department  of  the  Charlotte  High 
School,  before  the  trained  nurses  of  the  Presbyterian 
Hospital,  before  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, before  the  Charlotte  night  schools,  and  at  the 
opening  of  the  Carnegie  Public  Library.  He  was 
always  ready  to  cooperate,  or  to  lead,  in  reform- 
ing an  old  institution,  or  inaugurating  a  new  enter- 
prise. 

A  notable  service  to  Charlotte  was  his  work  in 
helping  to  organize  and  develop  the  Manufacturers' 
Club.  He  made  this  club  a  very  potent  instrumen- 
tality for  the  advertising  and  upbuilding  of  Char- 
lotte and  the  Piedmont  section.  Under  his  guidance 
the  club  became  a  commercial  salon,  a  hospitable 
Southern  home  for  business  men  of  large  denomina- 
tion, an  informal  exchange  and  clearing  house  of  busi- 
ness propositions.  "Our  club,"  said  he  in  his  annual 
address  as  president,  "is  unique,  in  that  it  is  in  a 
degree  a  commercial  exchange.  I  regard  it  as  ex- 
ceedingly important  to  maintain  this  character  of 
the  club.  Any  day  within  the  club  cloth  and  yarn 
may  be  sold.  Contracts  may  be  made  for  a  cotton 
mill  or  an  oil  mill  or  for  cotton;  and  it  is  these  facili- 
ties that  hold  our  non-resident  membership  and 
much  of  our  local  memxbership.  The  wishes  and 
convenience  of  our  non-resident  members  ought 
always  to  be  deferred  to,  as  a  good  host  does  to  guests 
in  a  private  house.  I  recommend  that  the  word 
Southern  be  dropped  from  the  club's  name;  first, 
because  it  is  little  used,  and  second,  it  in  a  degree 
provincializes  the  club.  The  best  loyalty  to  the 
South  is  to  cosmopolitanize  our  institutions." 

Animated  by  this  spirit  the  Charlotte  Manufac- 
turers' Club  was  the  host  of  leading  American  states- 


VARIOUS  ACTIVITIES  357 

men  and  business  magnates,  who  were  thus  informed 
concerning  Southern  resources  and  business  possibili- 
ties, and  were  warmly  enlisted  in  the  cause  of  South- 
ern development.  Acquaintances  here  formed  rip- 
ened into  friendships,  and  produced  results  of  large 
importance.  Among  the  prominent  guests  of  the 
club  were  President  Taft  and  the  Chinese  Minister 
'Wu  Ting  Fang.  For  years  Tompkins  kept  up  his 
friendship  and  correspondence  with  Minister  W^u, 
and  endeavored  by  this  means  to  promote  Southern 
trade  in  China. 

With  characteristic  zeal  and  public  spirit  Tompkins 
sought  to  extend  to  other  cities  the  ideas  of  the  Char- 
lotte Manufacturers'  Club.  In  a  letter  to  the  Manu- 
facturers' Record,  June  28,  1901,  he  wrote  as  follows: 
"It  has  occurred  to  me  that  the  Manufacturers' 
Club  here  is  just  such  an  organization  as  every  town 
in  the  South  needs.  There  are  a  great  many  busi- 
ness men's  leagues,  commercial  clubs,  chambers  of 
commerce,  and  boards  of  trade,  none  of  which  ac- 
complish the  purposes  for  which  they  are  intended. 
The  diflBculty  seems  to  be  that  these  organizations 
rarely  get  together,  except  at  some  regular  meeting, 
or  when  specially  called  together  to  consider  some 
proposition.  Almost  any  business  proposition,  when 
brought  up  before  a  miscellaneous  organization, 
comes  to  no  good  end.  Our  Manufacturers'  Club 
here  is  organized  upon  a  plan  where  the  social  fea- 
ture keeps  the  organization  together,  and  makes  a 
reason  for  frequent  and  constant  visits  by  the  mem- 
bers to  the  club  building.  The  club  never  consid- 
ers at  any  meeting  a  proposition  to  build  a  factory 
or  actually  to  do  any  material  thing.  Therefore,  the 
club  is  never  called  upon  to  decide  for  or  against 
anybody's  purpose  or  proposition.     \^Tiat  the  club 


358  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

does  is  to  furnish  a  perfect  atmosphere  and  all  the 
surroundings  necessary  for  any  man  to  get  a  hearing 
from  each  individual  of  the  best  business  element  in 
Charlotte.  In  this  way  any  man  can  quietly  try 
his  hand  at  getting  up  a  new  factory;  and  any 
stranger  can  through  the  club  get  access  to  the  busi- 
ness element  in  Charlotte.  In  this  way  we  get  three 
or  four  times  as  many  new  enterprises  as  could  be 
gotten  if  the  propositions  were  formally  brought  up 
before  an  ordinary  business  men's  meeting  or  board 
of  trade.  The  general  officers  of  the  Southern  Rail- 
road cheerfully  come  to  our  club,  cheerfully  listen 
to  suggestions  from  individual  members  about  freight 
rates  and  other  transportation  facilities,  and  are  glad 
of  the  opportunity.  There  is  nothing  published, 
and  nothing  has  to  be  done  immediately.  Proposi- 
tions discussed  before  a  chamber  of  commerce  would 
have  to  be  formally  answered.  Discussions  at  the 
Manufacturers'  Club  require  no  formal  answer." 

From  the  time  that  Tompkins  entered  Charlotte 
in  1882,  equipped  only  with  a  stout  heart  and  a  kit 
of  tools,  to  the  close  of  his  life  in  1914  as  one  of  the 
largest  capitalists  and  the  foremost  industrial  pro- 
moter of  the  city,  he  was  a  potent  force  in  advancing 
its  intellectual  development,  its  educational  and 
philanthropic  institutions,  its  health,  prosperity,  and 
happiness.  "Have  you  seen  D.  A.  Tompkins.^"  was 
the  first  remark  of  R.  M.  Miller,  Sr.,  in  1882  to  the 
editor  of  the  Manufacturers^  Record,  who  was  visiting 
Charlotte.  "He  is  a  wonderful  man.  You  may 
look  for  big  things  from  him."  Twenty  years  later 
the  Augusta  Chronicle  noted  the  passing  of  Tompkins 
through  that  city:  *'D.  A.  Tompkins  of  Charlotte 
was  in  the  city  yesterday,  en  route  to  New  Orleans, 
to  address  the  Southern  Cotton  Convention.     He  is 


VARIOUS  ACTIVITIES  359 

the  man  that  put  Charlotte  on  the  map  for  cotton 
mill  machinery.     Tompkins  is  Charlotte." 

Charlotte  was  little  more  than  a  village  when 
Tompkins  came  to  it.  It  is  now  a  busy,  bustling, 
thriving  city  of  approximately  fifty  thousand  popu- 
lation. Within  a  radius  of  fifty  miles  live  four 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  people. 

The  city  has  one  hundred  and  forty-two  manu- 
facturing plants.  It  is  the  centre  of  the  Southern 
cotton  mills  section,  having  four  hundred  mills 
within  a  radius  of  one  hundred  miles  whose  opera- 
tives number  eighty  thousand,  and  whose  annual 
pay  roll  is  thirty  million  dollars.  Charlotte  is  the 
centre  of  the  biggest  hydro-electrical  development  in 
the  United  States,  furnishing  current  over  two 
thousand  miles  of  high-powered  transmission  wires 
to  more  than  one  hundred  towns  and  cities.  It  has 
nine  banks  and  trust  companies  and  four  building  and 
loan  associations  with  sixty-two  thousand  shares  in 
force.  More  citizens  of  Charlotte  own  the  homes 
in  which  they  live  than  in  any  other  city  of  its  size 
in  the  United  States.  With  the  exception  of  one 
other  city,  the  death  rate  is  lower  in  Charlotte  than 
in  any  other  city  in  the  nation. 

"It  would  not  be  proper  and  correct  to  say  that 
Tompkins  and  his  efforts  made  Charlotte  a  city,  but 
he  started  those  things,  by  acts  and  writings,  which 
commercially  put  Charlotte  on  the  map  of  the  coun- 
try. He  was  an  advanced  thinker  and  builder, 
a  civil  engineer  by  profession,  but  by  nature  and 
intellect  a  master  of  details,  a  student  of  causes  and 
effects,  all  of  which  he  studied  with  a  decision  and  a 
precision  and  accuracy  as  if  using  his  compass  and 
rule  and  chain."     The  Uplift,  May,  1914. 

It  was  not  by  accident  that  Tompkins  selected 


360  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

Charlotte  as  his  home  and  the  centre  of  his  industrial 
and  philanthropic  activities.  He  studied  out  and 
comprehended  the  possibilities  of  Charlotte,  and 
selected  it  as  his  residence  after  a  careful  survey  of  the 
entire  South.  "The  Piedmont  region,"  said  he  in  an 
address  on  Charlotte  and  her  future,  "seems  to  be 
the  centre  of  the  new  industrial  South.  The  city 
of  Charlotte  is  the  centre  of  the  Piedmont  region; 
and  the  new  conditions  are  most  emphasized  in  the 
matter  of  Charlotte's  growth.  If,  as  has  been  done 
in  the  past,  Charlotte  is  initiative  and  progressive 
in  the  development  of  the  resources  of  the  surround- 
ing country,  if  she  continue  friendly  to  her  neighbors 
and  interested  in  their  developments,  there  is  no 
reason  that  we  should  not  have  a  city  here  such  as 
never  before  has  been  built  in  the  South  Atlantic 
States.  We  have  a  situation  most  favorable  for 
the  building  of  a  city,  being  one  day's  ride  from 
Atlanta,  one  from  Richmond,  one  from  Washington. 
There  ought  to  be  a  commercial  centre  for  the  great 
Piedmont  manufacturing  section,  and  Charlotte 
ought  to  be  that  commercial  centre." 

Charlotte  will  some  day  realize  the  dream  of 
Tompkins.  He  loved  the  city,  and  freely  gave  forth 
his  life's  energies  in  building  up  not  only  its  indus- 
tries but  its  intellectual,  spiritual,  and  aesthetic  life. 
"Though  occupied  with  the  sterner  things  of  business 
and  commerce  and  industrial  development,"  said 
The  Uplift  in  May,  1914,  "he  always  found  time 
to  interest  himself  in  things  that  touched  the  higher 
side  of  human  endeavor.  Hospitals,  Young  Men's 
and  Young  Women's  Christian  Associations,  schools, 
colleges,  charitable  and  philanthropic  institutions 
all  have  profited  by  his  recognition."  His  mind 
swept  the  gamut  of  human  activities,  from  cotton 


VARIOUS  ACTIVITIES  861 

mills  to  flower  beds.  "Plant  flowers  and  sow  grass/* 
he  would  reiterate  in  the  Daily  Observer.  "It  doesn't 
require  much  work  to  produce  a  little  grass  and  grow 
a  few  flowers  in  a  front  yard ;  and  when  all  the  front 
yards  in  a  city  have  green  grass  and  flowers,  it  does 
make  such  a  tremendous  difference  in  the  appear- 
ance of  the  whole  city.  In  such  a  town  or  city  life 
is  far  more  worth  the  living  than  it  can  ever  be  in  a 
dilapidated,  flowerless  city.  And  don't  forget  the 
back  yard.  Clean  it  up,  and  plant  a  few  pleasant 
green  shrubs  or  vines."  Handsome  donations  were 
made  by  Tompkins  in  his  will  to  most  of  the  philan- 
thropic and  charitable  institutions  of  the  city:  the 
Presbyterian  Hospital,  St.  Peter's  Hospital,  the  Good 
Samaritan,  the  Carnegie  Library,  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  and  the  Young  Women's 
Christian  Association. 

Tompkins  loved  Charlotte  because  Charlotte 
typified  himself. 

His  activities  in  Edgefield  were  as  generous  and 
public  spirited  as  in  Charlotte.  Edgefield  was 
the  darling  of  his  heart;  for  it  was  his  birthplace  and 
the  home  of  his  parents,  and  around  it  clustered  the 
memories  of  his  childhood  and  the  dreams  of  his 
youth.  Edgefield  had  formerly  been  a  notable  cen- 
tre of  social,  intellectual,  and  political  influence, 
famed  for  wealth,  culture,  and  whole-souled  hospi- 
tality. The  Civil  War  and  reconstruction  had  dealt 
it  a  heavy  blow.  When  Tompkins  in  1876  returned 
from  Bethlehem  to  Edgefield,  to  take  part  in  the 
South  Carolina  pohtical  revolution  under  the  leader- 
ship of  General  Wade  Hampton  and  General  M.  C. 
Butler,  he  found  everywhere  marks  of  poverty  and 
decay.  In  a  letter  to  his  fiancee,  November  2,  1876, 
he    says,    "Dilapidation    certainly    prevails    every- 


S62  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

where.  This  morning  I  found  a  very  large  house  on 
the  outskirts  of  the  town  that  was  once  very  hand- 
some, but  now  it  is  actually  falling  down.  The  old 
schoolhouse  I  used  to  go  to  is  without  a  floor,  and 
the  grove  is  used  for  a  Yankee  garrison.  Every 
mark  of  prosperity  is  gone  from  the  town.  The  little 
bridges  that  used  to  be  here  over  the  brooks  are  gone. 
But  the  spirit  of  Southern  life  is  still  left;  for  last 
night  the  young  men  of  the  place  hired  a  band  and 
had  them  play  under  the  windows  of  the  young 
ladies. 

"Politics  is  all  the  talk  and  excitement.  To-day 
a  lady  told  me  if  the  white  people  succeeded,  her  hus- 
band would  go  crazy  over  the  result,  and  if  they 
failed,  he  would  go  crazy  also.  I  will  be  here  until 
after  the  election  next  Tuesday.  The  Federal 
soldiers  have  been  sent  in  squads  to  the  different 
voting  precincts.  Only  three  companies  are  left 
here.     Everything  is  quiet  and  will  remain  so." 

"Nov.  6th.  The  election  passed  off  quietly. 
The  whites  won.     I  was  glad  to  help." 

He  modestly  omitted  to  tell  how  his  help  had  car- 
ried the  day.  "He  was  busy  all  day  going  from  vot- 
ing place  to  voting  place,"  says  Mrs.  Ella  Smyly 
Tompkins.  "  His  life  in  the  North  and  his  knowledge 
of  Northern  people  gave  him  a  sort  of  hold  on  the 
Yankee  officers,  who  listened  to  his  appeals  and 
through  him  got  into  sympathy  with  Southern  white 
people.  He  persuaded  these  officers  to  let  the  whites 
and  the  negroes  vote  alternately,  thus  giving  the 
whites  an  advantage;  for  the  polls  closed  before  all 
the  blacks  could  vote,  and  reduced  to  nothing  the 
customary  big  black  majority  in  Edgefield  County. 
After  the  election  the  citizens  came  to  our  house 
to  serenade  him,  and  took  him  on  their  shoulders 


VARIOUS  ACTIVITIES  363 

and  carried  him  in  triumph  all  over  the  town.  It 
was  a  happy  and  a  proud  day  for  him  and  for  Edge- 
field/' 

His  love  for  Edgefield  and  his  interest  in  its  devel- 
opment continued  throughout  his  life.  To  advance 
its  industrial  growth  he  built  and  operated  there  a 
cotton  mill  and  cotton  oil  mill  and  refinery,  thus 
giving  employment  to  its  youth  and  inviting  other 
industries.  To  encourage  thrift  and  economy  and 
promote  home  building  and  home  owning  by  work- 
ing people  he  helped  to  organize  a  building  and  loan 
association.  To  develop  education  he  constantly 
advocated  by  speeches,  by  newspaper  articles,  by 
pamphlets,  and  by  personal  appeals  every  instru- 
mentality for  school  improvements :  better  buildings, 
more  competent  teachers,  longer  school  terms,  and 
adequate  school  equipment,  all  to  be  secured  and 
supported  by  more  liberal  taxation.  His  efforts 
resulted  in  a  well-equipped  public  graded  school. 
The  handsome  high  school  building  he  designed 
and  constructed.  In  his  will  he  made  donations  of 
several  thousand  dollars  to  the  Edgefield  Free  Li- 
brary and  for  the  promotion  of  manual  training  in 
the  Edgefield  high  school.  Through  his  efforts 
the  movement  to  erect  the  Confederate  Monument 
was  rendered  successful,  and  by  his  help  the  first 
bank  building  was  constructed.  He  erected  many 
nice  buildings  in  town;  and  always  favored  liberal 
taxation  for  public  buildings  and  public  purposes, 
although  he  was  one  of  the  largest  taxpayers  in  the 
town.  Besides  paying  taxes  freely  and  liberally,  he 
was  a  constant,  sympathetic,  and  liberal  subscriber  to 
enterprises  affecting  the  prosperity  of  Edgefield. 

As  Edgefield  was  a  country  town,  its  prosperity 
depended  very  largely  on  good  roads.     To  this  mat- 


364  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

ter  Tompkins  gave  earnest  and  constant  attention. 
Speeches,  pamphlets,  and  newspaper  articles  were 
used  with  unremitting  zeal  and  persistency  to  edu- 
cate the  public  mind  and  arouse  the  public  interest 
in  good  roads.  The  prevailing  mania  for  politics 
was  keenly  ridiculed  and  denounced.  The  necessity 
for  good  roads  was  his  daily  sermon  for  Edgefield 
through  many  years.  Here  is  one  of  his  clear-cut 
appeals : 


ROADS,    SCHOOLS,    AND   POLITICS 

"Nothing  could  be  more  important  to  the  welfare 
of  Edgefield  County  than  the  education  of  its  children 
and  youths.  But  there  can  be  no  efficient  system  of 
schools  in  a  community  where  in  bad  weather 
the  children  cannot  walk  to  school  without  getting 
bedraggled  with  mud.  Some  teachers  attest  and 
none  deny  that  many  a  day  in  winter  the  roads  in 
Edgefield  County  are  too  bad  for  a  child  to  walk  to 
school.  A  fair  macadam  road  would  correct  this 
difficulty  as  well  as  serve  for  marketing  farm  prod- 
ucts and  hauling  supplies  back  home.  It  would 
serve  both  for  school  attendance  and  for  social  and 
commercial  intercourse. 

"Bad  roads  entail  the  following  losses: 

"  (1)  They  impair  school  facilities  by  their  im- 
passability  for  school  children  in  the  muddy  and 
rainy  season. 

"  (2)  They  make  prisoners  of  the  farmers'  wives 
and  families  during  the  winter  months. 

"  (3)  They  prevent  church  attendance,  and  this 
hinders  the  progress  of  Christian  civilization. 

"  (4)  They  destroy  more  live  stock  and  vehicles  in 
value  than  it  would  cost  to  build  good  roads. 


'  VARIOUS  ACTIVITIES  365 

"(5)  They  reduce  the  value  of  cottonseed  and 
cotton  by  excess  cost  of  hauHng.  They  increase  the 
price  of  fertihzers  and  rations  by  excess  cost  of 
hauHng. 

"  (6)  They  hinder  prosperity  and  all  good  causes 
and  purposes,  and  are  in  partnership  with  whiskey 
and  the  gentleman  below  with  a  forked  tail. 

"Good  Roads  bring  the  following  advantages: 

"(I)  They  facilitate  church  attendance. 

"(2)  They  facilitate  school  attendance. 

"(3)  They  facilitate  social  and  commercial  inter- 
course in  the  country  and  between  the  country  and 
city. 

"  (4)  They  open  up  a  vast  resource  in  the  way  of 
truck  farming,  production  and  sale  of  chickens,  eggs, 
milk,  butter,  etc. 

"(5)  They  reduce  the  price  of  fertilizers  and 
rations,  and  increase  net  values  of  cottonseed  and 
cotton.  They  save  wear  and  tear  on  wagons,  mules, 
and  human  energy  more  than  enough  to  pay  all  cost 
of  construction  of  good  roads. 

"With  good  roads  a  young  girl  can  profitably  raise 
chickens  and  eggs,  and  do  a  butter  business,  because 
she  herself  can  drive  to  town  and  market  these.  A 
boy  may  do  a  fine  truck  business  because  he  can 
market  his  products.  A  farmer's  wife  may  go  along 
any  day  to  do  a  little  shopping  or  pay  a  visit.  Good 
roads  make  opportunity  for  young  men  and  young 
women  of  the  coming  generation,  and  keep  them  at 
home.  Bad  roads  drive  them  away  to  find  oppor- 
tunity. 

"It  will  make  no  difference  to  the  farmers  of  Edge- 
field whether  Blease  or  Jones  is  elected  governor. 
Those  whose  candidate  is  elected  will  throw  up  their 


S66  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

hats  and  hallo  and  then  go  back  to  work  in  the  old 
way;  and  those  whose  candidate  is  not  elected  will 
cuss  a  little,  and  also  go  back  to  work  in  the  old  way; 
and  the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  supporters  of  both 
candidates  will  continue  to  sigh  and  lament  about  the 
old  quagmires  their  husbands  call  'roads,'  and  the 
rest  of  the  young  men  will  continue  to  go  to  North 
Carolina,  Oregon,  or  elsewhere  to  find  opportunity. 
One  good  road  of  twenty  miles  would  do  more  good 
for  the  country  than  twenty  governors.  The  ques- 
tion of  who  is  made  governor  makes  mighty  little 
difference  to  the  man  who  has  to  haul  wood  for  a 
living,  but  it  makes  all  the  difference  in  the  world  to 
this  same  man  whether  he  has  a  fine  graded  and 
macadamized  road  to  haul  over,  or  a  streak  of  brick 
clay  with  a  mud  machine  for  a  wagon. 

"Before  the  Civil  War  politics  led  our  grand- 
fathers to  the  bow-wows.  All  weVe  got  to  do  is  to 
stick  to  politics  long  enough  and  industriously 
enough;  and  we  will  see  our  grandfathers  all 
right. 

"Edgefield  County,  S.  C,  has  perhaps  more 
politics  and  less  good  roads  than  any  county  in  the 
United  States;  and  the  worst  of  it  is  that  her  people 
seem  not  only  satisfied  with  this  condition,  but 
proud  of  it." 

Tompkins  loved  Edgefield,  and  was  proud  of  its 
honorable  fame  as  a  centre  of  wealth,  culture,  and 
hospitality  in  the  days  of  slavery.  He  treasured  all 
the  memories  of  its  glorious  and  delightful  past.  An 
unpublished  monograph  by  him  on  the  Edgefield 
district  displays  deep  and  loving  interest  in  the 
history  of  the  district,  and  is  a  fine  scholarly  tribute 
to  Edgefield  men  and  women  of  former  generations. 
He  looked  upon  ante-bellum  Edgefield  as  the  fairest 


VARIOUS  ACTIVITIES  357 

a 


gem  in  South  Carolina's  coronet;  and  now  as 
builder  of  the  New  South,  he  longed  for  the  re-polish- 
ing  of  that  gem  into  even  greater  brilliancy  and  the 
fitting  of  It  in  the  very  front  of  the  crown  of  the  new 
bouth  Carolina. 


CHAPTER  XX 

PERSONAL    CHARACTERISTICS — ^LESSONS    OF    LIFE 
SUMJMARY 

THE  life  of  Tompkins  is  full  of  inspiration  and 
instruction.  His  career  was  not  the  result  of 
chance,  inherited  wealth,  or  help  from  kindred, 
but  the  product  of  character  and  energy.  He  found 
friends  everywhere,  attracted  and  bound  to  him  by 
his  merits.  They  helped  him  with  opportunities;  and 
he  modestly  credits  them  with  his  own  achievements. 
But  he  knew  that  every  man  makes  his  own  career; 
and  this  was  the  lesson  he  would  teach  the  youth  of 
the  South.  In  teaching  it  he  referred  frequently  to 
his  own  work,  but  only  to  illustrate  and  emphasize 
the  lesson.  "I  don't  think,"  said  he,  *'I  am  indulg- 
ing in  personal  vanity  in  referring  to  my  own  experi- 
ence, but  do  think  I  am  impelled  further  to  forward 
the  cause  of  industrial  development  and  industrial 
education;  also  to  show  the  way  to  the  youth  of  the 
South  for  material,  moral,  and  intellectual  progress 
by  the  path  of  character  and  intelligent  work." 

The  chief  characteristic  of  Tompkins  was  love  of 
work;  and  the  chief  lesson  of  his  life  isthe  power  of 
persistennippiication .  "Genius  is  mostly  applica- 
tion,"  he  was  fond  of  saying.  In  his  whole  career  he 
exemplified  and  illustrated  this  noble  truth.  As  a 
boy  he  drove  the  mules  in  the  gin  house  on  his  father's 
plantation;  as  a  lad  he  worked  in  the  carpenter  and 
blacksmith  shops;  as  a  youth  he  plowed  and  hoed  in 


SUMMARY  OF  LIFE  3GG 

the  big  fields.  He  was  never  idle  in  boyhood  and 
youth,  except  when  hunting,  fishing,  or  swimming. 
His  work  was  voluntary,  was  a  joyous  expression  of 
his  nature. 

During  college  vacations  in  South  Carolina  he  was 
building  county  bridges  anjj-epairing  houses.  His 
expenses  at  the  University  of  South  Carolina  were 
met  by  these  earnings.  At  the  Rensselaer  Polytechnic 
Institute  in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  by  rigid  economy  he  met 
the  expenses  of  the  first  year  with  funds  ill-spared  by 
his  father.  His  second  year's  expenses  were  paid  in 
equal  shares  by  his  own  work  at  odd  hours  and  his 
remittances  from  home.  The  third  and  fourth  years 
he  worked  each  afternoon  and  every  Saturday  and 
during  the  long  summer  vacations  in  various  in- 
dustrial establishments  in  Troy.  At  night  in  his 
bedroom  he  did  special  work  as  a  draftsman.  He 
met  all  expenses  of  his  last  two  years  pt  thp  institntp. . 
by  work  and  bv  personal  loans. 

His  diligence  and  skill  while  a  student  in  the 
institute  attracted  the  attention  of  Alexander  Holley, 
one  of  the  foremost  American  engineers  and  at  that 
time  a  trustee  of  the  institution,  who  gave  him 
employment  for  a  year  after  graduation  as  confi- 
dential secretary  and  draftsman  of  designs.  His 
fidelity  and  efficiency  as  a  worker  secured  Holley's 
warm  recommendation,  whereby  he  entered  upon  his 
career  at  the  Bethlehem  Iron  Works  under  the  man- 
agement of  the  great  steel  maker,  John  Fritz.  His 
career  at  Bethlehem  was  a  continuous  illustration  of 
his  favorite  theory  that  genius  is  mostly  application. 
While  other  employees  were  taking  a  day  off  for 
country  fairs,  or  4th  of  July  celebrations,  Tompkins 
was  at  work. 

When  an  opportunity  came  for  work  abroad  under 


370  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

very  special  difficulties  installing  in  ^Germany  new 
machinery,  Tompkins  was  selected  by  Fritz  to  per- 
form the  work.  ^Yhen  his  long  apprenticeship  was 
ended  and  he  began  in^harlotte,  N.  C,  his  career  as 
engineer"^nd  contractor,  with  little  equipment 
^cept  a  kit  of  tools,  he  was  marked  at  once  as  a 
workman  of  exceptionaT  diligence  and  efficiency. 
His  reputation  extended  rapidly  in  all  directions,  and 
gained  for  him  from  George  Westinghouse  the  agency 
for  the  Westinghouse^engities  in  the  Southeastern 
States.  Accepting  this  agency  and  working  at  the 
same  time  as  a  machinist  and  engineer,  he  was  busy 
day  and  night,  as  salesman,  machinist,  engineer, 
contractor,  and  builder.  He  was  bookkeeper,  pro- 
prietor, travelling  salesman,  and  promoter.  As  busi- 
ness grew,  he  was  constantly  on  the  road,  travelling  at 
night  to  save  time,  and  living  in  sleeping  cars.  There 
was  no  busier  worker  in  the  South. 

Tompkins  worked  with  an  object;  not  to  earn 
money,  nor  n:erely  to  employ  his  restless  energies, 
but  to  produce  results,  to  construct,  to  fashion^  in 
create,  to  learn.  "I  always  delighted  in  constructive 
work,"  he  wrote  in  his  memoirs.  "My  first 
constructive  work  as  a  boy  was  making  a  pair  of 
gaffs  in  the  blacksmith  shop  for  cock-fighting.  Mine 
were  far  superior  to  those  made  by  the  negro  black- 
smiths. But  after  making  two  or  three  pairs,  I  lost 
interest,  and  made  no  more.  I  had  learned  all  there 
was  to  learn." 

His  faith  in  the  power  of  work  was  strong  and  deep- 
rooted.  "If  everybody  in  the  South  would  go  to 
work,"  he  was  fond  of  saying,  *'if  the  idlers  in 
villages  and  towns  and  the  loafers  around  railway 
stations  could  be  converted  into  productive  laborers; 
and   if  farm  workers  would   stick  to  their  jobs  as 


SUMMAKY  OF  LIFE  371 

many  hours  in  the  day  and  as  many  days  in  the 
year  and  as  dihgently  as  cotton  mill  workers,  the 
South  would  be  the  richest  country  in  the  world.  It 
surpasses  all  other  sections  of  the  United  States  in 
climate  and  natural  resources.  Now  that  it  is  rid  of 
the  curse  of  slavery,  it  should  surpass  other  sections 
also  in  manufactures,  commerce,  and  agriculture,  in 
wealth,  education,  and  culture." 

After  locating  in  Charlotte  in  1882,  it  is  doubtful 
whether  Tompkins  for  twenty-five  years  ever  spent 
an  idle  day.  His  passion  for  construction  and  his 
wonderful  versatility  kept  him  always  busy.  After 
spending  the  day  in  promoting  some  industrial 
organization,  or  supervising  mill  construction,  he 
would  lecture  at  night  before  a  college  or  university 
student  audience.  His  versatility  was  equal  to  his  ]y^ 
energy.  He  would  pass  easily  and  quickly  from 
practical  engineering  work  to  the  study  and  dis-  _^  ^  -/ 
cussion  of  problems  in  government  and  political  ^"^  ^ 
economy;  from  the  building  and  organization  of 
textile  schools  to  experiments  in  cooking;  from  land- 
scape gardening  to  building  and  loan  associations; 
from  city  sewerage  to  Beethoven's  symphonies,  from 
trained  nurses  and  typhoid  fever  to  plans  for 
marketing  cotton;  from  the  undeveloped  water  power 
of  Piedmont,  Carolina,  to  the  organizing  of  a  system 
of  apprenticeships;  from  lecturing  before  national  as- 
sociations or  speaking  before  Congressional  com- 
mittees to  familiar  chats  in  the  Charlotte  Manu- 
facturers' Club ;  from  his  apartments  in  the  Waldorf 
Astoria  to  his  rooms  in  the  Buford  Hotel.  With  the 
Roman  poet  he  could  exclaim,  "Homo  sum,  nil 
humani  a  me  alienum  puto." 

His  friends  called  him  a  genjus.     They  could  not 
otherwise  explain  his  tremendous  achievements  in  so 


372  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

many  lines  of  work.  But  Tompkins  smiled  at  the 
suggestion.  "Genius,"  said  he,  **is  mostly  applica- 
tion." Ke  was  not  a  genius  in  the  popular  accepta- 
tion; but  he  had  a  genius  for  work.  He  fulfilled  his 
own  definition.  "Few  people,"  said  he  in  an  address 
before  the  students  of  the  North  Carolina  College  at 
Mount  Pleasant,  "appreciate  the  pleasure  and 
wholesomeness  of  work.  It  is  like  the  ocean  waves  on 
the  beach — always  dreaded  until  one  is  well  into 
them,  when  former  apprehension  is  found  to  have 
been  groundless.  The  pleasures  of  all  dissipations 
are  fading.  The  pleasures  of  all  work  are  cumulative. 
Work  is  pleasanter  to-day  than  it  was  yesterday. 
It  will  be  pleasanter  to-morrow"  than  it  is  to-day. 

"I  wish  to  lay  emphasis  on  the  expression  of  my 
conviction  that  the  graduates  of  this  school  have 
as  fair  opportunities  as  any  youth  anywhere  in  the 
world.  To  derive  the  advantages  cf  these  opportun- 
ities neither  capital  nor  influence,  nor  help  from  the 
North,  or  from  anywhere  else  is  necessary.  Indeed, 
all  these  might  be  a  hindrance.  All  that  is  necessary 
is  study  and  work. 

"To  do  things  in  a  true  way,  to  gain  the  distinction 
which  always  comes  from  perfection,  requires  work, 
labor,  effort — more  work,  more  labor,  more  effort 
— the  most  work,  the  most  labor,  the  most  effort. 
Whoever  labors  for  distinction  and  fame  follows  a 
phantom.  Whoever  labors  for  good  results  will  find 
distinction  or  fame.  Fortune  dallies  wath  fools. 
She  is  the  slave  of  him  who  never  departs  from  the 
path  of  duty  and  labor." 

Next  to  love  of  work  w^ith  Tompkins__was  love  of 
helping  others.  This  was  the  controlling  motive  of 
his  busy  life.  Speeches,  writings,  building  of  milLs 
and  colleges,  promotion  of  building  and  loan  associar 


SUMMARY  OF  LIFE  373 

tions,  all  his  activities  during  thirty  years  were 
designed  to  produce  for  Southern  laborers  opportun- 
ities of  employment,  or  to  stimulate  Southern  youth 
to  education  and  training  for  industrial  careers,  or  to 
promote  among  Southern  working  people  habits  of 
industry,  thrift,  and  economy.  Outright  charity, 
mere  giving,  except  to  the  sick  and  helpless,  he  did  not 
regard  as  real  help.  "The  only  real  help,"  said  he, 
"is  when  you  help  a  man  to  help  himself."  .  .  . 
"The  best  help  for  the  working  man  is  employment." 
.  .  .  "A  good  pay  roll  is  the  best  philanthropy." 
.  .  .  "Give  the  working  man  an  opportunity  to 
work  and  good  wages  for  his  work,  and  he  will  work 
out  his  own  salvation,  material,  intellectual,  and 
social."  .  .  .  "With  opportunity  for  regular 
work  and  with  regular  wages  in  cash,  the  mill  workers 
of  the  South  will  do  more  for  their  own  advancement 
than  could  ever  be  done  by  others  for  them."  .  .  . 
"The  greatest  benefactors  of  the  South  are  those 
who  have  formulated  plans  for  the  industrial  develop- 
ment of  the  South,  and  have  accomplished  the  main- 
tenance of  regular  work  and  regular  cash  pay  rolls. 
Whoever  finds  the  way  to  keep  people  employed  at 
profitable  wages  may  depend  upon  it  that  these 
employed  people  will,  in  time,  be  more  instrumental 
than  anybody  else  in  their  own  betterment." 

He  knew  that  work  is  the  best  preparation  for 
life,  and  the  joy  of  work  the  greatest  of  human 
satisfactions.  He  had  felt  this  joy,  and  he  wished  all 
young  men  to  feel  it.  He  gave  it  to  his  best  beloved. 
He  took  his  eldest  nephew,  Sterling  Graydon,  Esq., 
of  Charlotte,  at  an  early  age  as  an  apprentice  in  his 
Charlotte  machine  shops.  The  lad  worked  in 
company  with  other  apprentices,  under  the  same 
contract,  at  the  same  wages,  doing  the  same  work. 


374  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

subject  to  the  same  discipline,  receiving  the  same 
instruction  and  training.  At  the  end  of  his  appren- 
ticeship the  nephew  borrowed  from  his  uncle  money 
to  meet  expenses  in  the  State  Textile  School,  giving 
notes  in  due  form  with  legal  interest.  To  pay  oflF 
the  debt  he  worked  at  odd  hours  during  the  college 
session  and  through  the  long  vacations.  After 
graduation  he  entered  the  Atherton  Cotton  Mills  in 
Charlotte,  and  worked  his  way  up  from  the  bottom  to 
the  top.  He  is  now  president  of  the  Atherton  Mills 
and  general  manager  of  his  uncle's  estate.  The 
career  that  Tompkins  thus  helped  his  nephew  to 
follow  was  the  career  that  Tompkins  himself  had 
followed.  He  believed  that  a  career  of  this  kind  was 
open  to  any  young  man  in  the  South.  By  speeches, 
writings,  and  advertisements  he  was  always  urging 
Southern  lads  thus  to  fit  themselves  for  industrial 
work  and  leadership.  It  was  one  of  his  chief  pleasures 
to  help  such  lads  obtain  an  education. 

It  is  not  easy  to  make  an  estimate  of  the  number  of 
young  men  helped  by  Tompkins  at  schools,  colleges, 
and  universities.  "He  never  refused  to  help  any 
young  man  who  asked  his  aid  to  get  an  education," 
says  his  secretary.  Miss  Twelvetrees.  "I  never 
knew  my  brother  to  turn  down  a  boy  or  a  girl  who 
wanted  to  go  to  school  and  came  to  him  to  borrow 
money,"  writes  Mrs.  Grace  Tompkins  Ennett. 

"He  didn't  mind  contributing  anything  to  a  person 
or  a  community  that  helped  in  their  own  building 
up."  Nor  was  his  help  confined  to  lads  seeking  an 
education.  He  was  a  teacher  and  wished  everybody 
to  be  at  school ;  but  his  school  included  the  big  world 
of  business.  In  his  school  he  sought  and  gi*eeted  op- 
portunities to  help  anybody  who  was  willing  to  be 
helped  in  the  right  way. 


SUMMARY  OF  LIFE  37o 

A  characteristic  example  of  his  methods  in  helping 
young  men  to  business  habits  is  furnished  by  a 
reporter  for  the  Charlotte  Observer,  at  that  time  a 
stranger  to  Tompkins,  but  for  years  afterward  a 
close  friend,  fellow  worker,  and  counsellor: 

"The  first  thing  that  I  remember  about  Mr. 
Tompkins  is  that  he  helped  me  out  of  a  troublesome 
situation  and  started  me  on  the  road  to  financial 
success.  I  had  just  graduated  from  the  State 
University,  and  was  working  in  the  Observer  oflfice. 
A  big  debt  hung  over  me,  and  a  note  for  $200  was 
past  due.  I  was  very  blue,  and  was  thinking  of 
going  to  Texas.  Mr.  T.  passed  by  the  office,  and 
observed  my  downcast  look.  'What  is  the  matter 
with  you.f^  I  never  saw  such  a  dejected-looking 
person.  Are  you  ill?'  He  came  into  the  office,  sat 
down  beside  me  and  heard  my  story. 

"'Well,  said  he,  you  need  a  guardian,  you  have  no 
idea  of  business.     Have  you  a  bank  account.?' 

"'Bank  account!'     I  said. 

"'Yes.     Where  do  you  keep  your  money .'^' 

"'My  money.?  Why,  Mr.  Tompkins,  I  have  no 
money,  not  a  dollar  ahead.'  Mr.  Tompkins  looked 
at  me  without  saying  a  word  for  several  minutes, 
turned  and  started  out,  saying,  as  he  went, 

"'As  soon  as  somebody  relieves  you,  come  to  my 
office.' 

"Inside  of  an  hour  I  had  taken  out  five  shares  of 
building  and  loan  stock,  opened  a  bank  account  with 

$25,  and  paid  Mr.  $175  of  what  I  owed  him. 

Mr.  Tompkins  pointed  the  way,  signed  my  note  with 
me,  and  since  I  have  never  been  without  a  little  bank 
account.  From  that  day  I  was  a  friend  of  Mr. 
Tompkins ;  and  have  often  wondered  how  many  poor, 
green,  thoughtless  youngsters  he  started  in  a  business 


376  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

way.  He  lectured  me  briefly,  gently,  kindly,  and 
made  me  happy.  I  soon  paid  for  the  money  with  my 
building  and  loan  stock." 

The  devotion  of  Tompkins  to  his  theory  of  self- 
help  is  shown  by  his  using  this  method  in  helping  his 
youngest  sister,  Mrs.  Grace  Tompkins  Ennett.  Let 
her  tell  the  story: 

"I  had  been  teaching  a  year  or  so  before  I  ever 
thought  of  saving  any  money.  I  usually  drew  my 
salary  and  spent  it  immediately,  and  didn't  even 
dream  I  could  possibly  spare  a  penny  to  lay  up,  as  I 
was  supporting  myself.  One  day  my  brother  sug- 
gested to  me  the  idea  of  saving  something.  He 
asked  me  how  much  I  received,  and  inquired  gener- 
ally into  my  expenses;  and  then  told  me  about  the 
building  and  loan  association.  I  had  never  even 
heard  of  such  a  thing,  and  didn't  even  dream  that  I 
could  enter  into  it,  but  so  great  was  my  admiration 
and  belief  in  him  that  I  gladly  followed  out  his 
directions  and  took  ^ve  shares.  That  was  the  best 
service  my  brother  ever  did  n  e.  It  was  the  begin- 
ning of  my  own  immediate  family's  acquaintance 
with  the  B.  &  L.  and  I  can  truly  say  the  acquaintance 
has  grown  more  intimate  every  year  since.  He  took 
me  to  New  York  that  summer  where  the  National  B. 
&  L.  Association  met,  and  got  me  introduced  to  some 
of  the  crowd,  and  I  attended  all  the  meetings  where 
ladies  were  allowed,  while  he  was  busy  downtown.  I 
would  tell  him  all  about  it  at  night,  when  we  met  at 
the  close  of  each  day ;  and  after  it  was  all  over,  he  had 
me  write  it  up,  and  published  what  I  wrote  in  the 
Charlotte  Observer. 

"The  next  year  we  went  to  New  York  again  for 
my  summer  vacation.  Then  it  was  he  began  to  talk 
about  my  building  a  house.    He  showed  me  how  it 


SUMMARY  OF  LIFE  377 

could  be  done  by  renting  it  and  supplementing  the 
rent  money  with  a  small  part  of  my  salary.  I  im- 
mediately wanted  to  try  it;  and  we  spent  many  hours 
discussing  plans  for  building  and  ways  and  means 
for  me  to  undertake  it.  He  always  urged  me  to  ex- 
press my  own  individuality  about  the  house  and  not 
to  be  unduly  influenced  by  himself.  But  I  was  so 
ignorant,  and  believed  so  in  him,  that  I  was  anxious 
to  follow  his  lead  in  the  entire  matter.  He  had  some 
lovely  building  lots,  so  he  let  me  choose  any  one  I 
wished,  and  sold  it  to  me  on  credit,  taking  second 
mortgage,  and  allowing  me  to  give  first  mortgage 
to  the  Building  &  Loan.  Then  he  got  me  many 
books  with  house  plans  and  made  me  select  my  own 
plan.  I  don't  think  there  was  a  house  in  Edgefield 
at  that  time  that  had  been  planned  by  an  architect. 
So  he  had  the  plans  drawn  up  by  the  best  architects 
in  Charlotte,  and  made  me  a  present  of  them.  I 
shall  never  forget  his  enjoyment  over  my  building 
that  house.  I  think  he  wrote  me  something  about 
it  every  mail  during  the  building.  He  thought  of 
new  ideas  and  steered  me  around  difficulties  and 
generally  said  he  wanted  it  to  be  a  model  for 
Edgefield.  That  year  of  the  building  he  took  me  to 
Cincinnati  to  the  big  National  Building  &  Loan  Con- 
vention; and,  when  winter  came  on,  he  had  me  run 
up  to  Charlotte  some  week-ends  to  study  interior 
furnishings;  and,  when  it  was  all  completed,  he  fur- 
nished one  of  the  rooms  beautifully  for  me.  After  it 
was  all  ready,  the  family  moved  into  it,  and  rented 
the  one  we  had  been  living  in,  because  the  new  house 
was  so  much  better  than  the  old.  I  got  the  rent 
money  for  the  old  house  instead. 

"After  my  house   was   completed,   and   we  had 
moved  in  it,  my  brother  began  to  talk  to  me  about 


378  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

the  yard.  WTien  summer  came,  I  went  to  stay  with 
him  and  kept  house  for  him  as  usual  and  always  we 
talked  and  planned  about  beautifying  my  grounds. 
He  had  many  ideas,  and  wanted  them  carried  out, 
but  at  last  decided  to  get  a  landscape  architect  to 
help  shape  them.  Mr.  John  Nolan  of  Boston,  Mass., 
was  working  on  parks  in  Savannah  and  Charlotte; 
so  once,  when  he  was  passing  Edgefield  on  his  way 
to  Savannah,  he  spent  one  day  with  me.  I  am 
sure  I  was  the  most  ignorant  person  about  plant 
life  Mr.  Nolan  ever  met;  I  was  embarrassingly  ignor- 
ant. I  did  not  know^  the  commonest  wild  things 
around  me.  I  have  been  trying  to  remedy  that 
ignorance  every  day  since.  Well,  my  brother 
wanted  me  to  develop  plants  that  were  native,  *  Take 
what  you  have,'  he  would  say,  'and  make  the  most 
of  it.'  He  would  tell  me  what  beautiful  gardens 
my  grandparents  had  before  the  war,  and  said  I 
could  do  the  same.  He  especially  wanted  me  to 
have  pergolas  with  grapevines  growing  on  them  and 
plenty  of  fig  trees  planted.  He  would  tell  me  to 
work  to  make  my  place  not  only  pretty  and  attract- 
ive, but  remunerative.  He  would  say  if  you  want  a 
shade  tree,  you  can  just  as  well  let  it  be  a  black 
walnut,  you'll  get  shade  and  nuts,  too.  He  always 
advised  me  to  sell  m.y  grapes,  figs,  fruits,  and  any- 
thing I  grew  on  my  place.  'Show  the  Edgefield 
people  there  is  no  disgrace  in  working  and  making 
your  home  pretty  and  selling  your  surplus.'  My 
pergolas  are  here,  and  the  fig  trees;  and  the  yard  is 
quite  pretty.  His  spirit  made  it  all,  and  taught  me 
besides  the  most  valuable  lessons  I  ever  learned." 

On  account  of  old  age  and  semi-invalidism,  the 
business  affairs  and  especially  the  large  plantation  of 
Tompkins'  father  became  involved  in  debt  and  con- 


SUMMARY  OF  LIFE  379 

fusion.  Tompkins  took  hold  with  characteristic 
energy  and  desire  to  help;  advanced  several  thousand 
dollars  to  square  up  debts,  devised  a  plan  of  manage- 
ment on  strict  business  lines,  and  lifted  the  property 
out  of  its  hopeless  condition.  He  never  allowed  him- 
self to  be  repaid  the  money  he  had  advanced,  but 
tore  up  his  father's  notes.  Afterward  by  his  father's 
will  he  was  made  heir  to  one  sixth  of  the  property 
that  he  had  saved.  This,  too,  he  declined  to  accept, 
giving  it  to  the  widow  and  the  other  children. 

On  the  death  of  his  father  Tompkins  wrote  in 
one  of  his  frank  letters  to  his  private  secretary:  "I 
am  impelled  by  my  father's  death  to  devote  myself 
more  freely  to  the  help  of  others.  I  cannot  think 
that  I  have  ever  been  especially  selfish;  but  it  may  be 
that  I  can  do  more  for  others  than  I  am  accustomed 
to  do." 

He  was  a  constant  and  generous  giver  to  charitable 
and  religious  organizations;  to  churches  and  hos- 
pitals; to  struggling  schools  and  colleges;  to  Young 
Men's  and  Young  Women's  Christian  Associations; 
to  associations  and  institutions  for  training  and  up- 
lifting the  negro.  His  private  secretary  and  treas- 
urer says:  "I  kept  in  Mr.  T's  books  a  'donation 
and  gift  account'.  He  gave  away  quite  a  sum  each 
year,  and  his  contributions  spread  over  many  insti- 
tutions and  churches.  He  helped  very  many  young 
men  in  their  education,  but  his  help  was  generally 
on  a  loan  basis,  depending  upon  the  honor  of  the 
young  men  and  their  thrift  to  pay  it  back  when  they 
got  to  work.  Even  with  his  own  nephews,  whenever 
he  advanced  money  for  their  college  education,  it  was 
a  debt  to  be  repaid  with  interest.  His  spirit  was 
first  to  show  people  how  to  help  themselves." 

Tompkins  was  a  philanthropist,  not  from  emo- 


380  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

tional  impulse  but  from  desire  and  purpose  to  aid 
in  the  elevation  of  humanity.  "It  does  us  all  good," 
he  said  in  his  speech  at  the  opening  of  the  Carnegie 
Library,  "to  feel  that  we  are  doing  some  good  in  the 
world,  or  at  least  are  trying  to  do  some  good  in  the 
world.  The  material  advantages  of  this  library  are 
probably  better  than  what  could  be  obtained  from 
any  new  business  which  you  could  establish  for  the 
purpose  of  making  money.  There  is  a  general  good 
which  will  be  advantageous  to  all  material  interests. 
The  influence  of  a  library  is  to  extend  knowledge, 
which,  in  turn,  softens  asperities,  removes  prejudices, 
and  extends  human  happiness.  But  the  greatest 
good  is  the  altruistic  work.  It  is  to  any  individual 
or  to  any  people  of  supreme  advantage  to  have  al- 
ways in  hand  more  or  less  altruistic  work — to  be 
doing  something  in  which  the  motive  of  self-interest 
is  left  out." 

The  money  help  given  by  Tompkins  to  young 
men  and  women  was  very  large  and  very  efficient  in 
results.  But  still  greater  was  his  help  by  inspiration, 
through  lectures,  speeches,  and  newspaper  articles. 
His  altruistic  motives  for  attending  conventions, 
making  speeches  before  colleges  and  universities, 
and  performing  other  semi-public  missionary  work, 
were  not  always  appreciated  or  even  comprehended. 
In  his  personal  memoirs  he  shows  a  modest  though 
manly  indignation  at  the  misunderstandings  and 
misrepresentations  that  often  confronted  him  in  his 
philanthropic  work.  "Someone  told  me  yesterday," 
he  writes  in  his  memoirs,  "that  he  heard  a  man  say 
to  another,  *  Tompkins  must  have  had  to  do  a  great 
deal  of  manipulating  to  get  the  appointment  of 
director  in  the  Equitable'.  The  other  answered, 
*I  don't  know  about  that,  but  I  don't  see  how  he  is 


SUMMARY  OF  LIFE  381 

going  to  make  anything  out  of  it. '  I  am  constantly 
confronted  with  this  interrogation  in  connection  with 
my  work. 

"There  seems  to  be  exceedingly  few  people  who 
are  capable  of  comprehending  that  I  like  to  do  some 
things  for  the  interest  I  have  in  the  subject  and  for 
the  good  of  humanity.  I  went  once  to  Raleigh  to 
make  an  address  before  the  students  of  the  A.  &  M 
College.  The  auditorium  contained  not  only  the 
students,  but  a  large  company  of  ladies  and  gentle- 
men who  came  out  from  Raleigh  to  hear  the  address. 
When  it  was  over,  I  was  cordially  complimented ;  and 
I  think  most  of  those  who  heard  the  address  were 
really  interested  in  what  I  said.  A  number  of  extra 
trolley  cars  were  waiting  to  take  the  Raleigh  party 
in,  and,  on  the  way  in,  a  Federal  officer  sat  by  me 
and  amongst  other  things  said,  *I  have  not  heard 
a  more  interesting  address  in  a  long  time  than  the 
one  you  delivered  to-night.'  Then  he  leaned  over, 
and  said,  sotto  voce,  in  my  ear,  *but  I  cannot  see  how 
you  make  anything  out  of  this  sort  of  work.' 

"It  is  evident  that  very  few  people  credit  anybody 
w^ith  any  spirit  of  altruism.  I  often  neglect  the 
money-making  end  of  my  work  for  the  altruistic 
end,  simply  because  I  like  it;  and  my  own  feeling  is 
that  I  have  lost  a  great  deal  of  money  by  the  neglect 
at  times  of  the  money-making  end  of  my  business. 
I  think  that  most  people  have  no  conception,  not 
even  the  slightest  conception,  of  the  fact  that  a  great 
deal  of  my  work  is  done  without  any  expectation 
of  compensation  or  return.  I  have  printed  many 
pamphlets  at  my  own  cost,  and  circulated  them,  for 
no  other  reason  than  that  I  thought  the  subject 
needed  discussion,  and  that  discussion  of  the  subject 
would   do   general   good.     I   have   distributed   and 


S82  A  BTTIT>DER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

printed  pamphlets  on  banking,  good  roads,  building 
and  loan  associations,  working  people's  homes,  and 
similar  subjects,  in  which  I  had  no  possible  private 
interest,  one  pamphlet  on  the  cotton  gin  involving 
much  labor  and  expense,  to  clear  up  the  matter 
of  Whitney's  patent  rights  and  his  claim  that  the 
South  did  not  treat  him  right.  I  have  written  and 
published  a  number  of  books  absolutely  without 
regard  as  to  whether  I  would  get  the  money  back  or 
not.  *  Cotton  Mill,  Processes  and  Calculations'  was 
published  for  the  benefit  of  students  and  superintend- 
ents who  wanted  to  learn  the  cotton  mill  business. 
I  was  impelled  by  letters  that  I  got  from  a  number 
of  these  asking  for  formulae.  The  book  on  '  Cotton ' 
was  written  to  get  the  cotton  story  on  record,  by 
pictures  and  printed  matter.  Yet  in  the  face  of  this 
work  and  its  publicity  people  persist  in  talking  to 
me  and  about  me  as  though  I  was  intent  upon  getting 
money  and  that  I  had  no  other  motive.  I  think 
this  is  partially  due  to  the  fact  that  a  number  of 
people  who  have  been  associated  with  me  have  been 
trying  to  get  the  money  while  I  was  doing  the  al- 
truistic work;  and  they  attempt  to  justify  themselves 
by  making  it  out  that  they  had  to  fight  my  greediness 
to  get  what  belonged  to  them,  whereas  all  the  greed 
was  on  their  side.  I  being  always  on  the  defensive, 
if  there  was  a  difference  of  opinion  about  money. 

"Besides  the  jEquitable  Board  I  am  a  member  of 
the  Executive  Committee  of  the  T^J^ational  Associa- 
tion of  Manufacturers;  a  member  of  the  Executive 
Committee  of  the  Asiatic  Association;  a  member  of 
the  proxy  committee  of  the  Associated  Press,  and 
I  have  joined  a  number  of  other  organizations  in 
the  work  of  which  I  take  more  or  less  interest.  If 
the  desire  for  money  was  ever  a  controlling  impulse 


SUMMARY  OF  UFE  383 

with  me  I  don't  know  it,  and  never  did  know  it.     1 
don't  think  that  I  ever  worked  a  day  in  my  life   or 
the  money  that  was  in  it.     I  have  done  the  work  that 
I  have  Hked  to  do  regardless  of  whether  I  was  paid 
for  it  or  not,  and  whenever  I  have  been  doing  work 
for  pay  my  chief  concern  was  that  the  pay  would 
be  sufficient  to  make  a  good  job  and  give  good  re- 
sults for  the  man  I  was  working  for.     It  is  wonder  ul 
what  a  different  feeling  there  is  m  the  presence  ot  a 
set  of  men  who  are  thinking  about  nothmg  but  money 
and  in  the  presence  of  a  set  of  men  who  are  successful 
but  who  are  willing  to  do  something  for  the  general 
good.     There  is  a  great  pleasure  m  associatmg  with 
fhe  kind  of  men  I  meet  on  the  executive  committees 
of  such  associations  as  the  National  Associat«>n  of 
Manufacturers,   the    Asiatic    Association    and    the 
Associated  Press.     They  are  not  only  not  trying  to 
make  any  money  out  of  the  thing,  but  they  never 
Enk  about  money.     Most  of  them  are  success^ 
men  who  have  made  money  very  easily  and  could 
get  along  without  doing  other  work. 
Thos/w]aa±aeaLj::Qmplans_m^sl_int^^ 

-•MrTWpkins  never Wsidered  money  m  carrying 
out  an  idea,"  says  his  secretary.  Miss  Twelvetrees^ 
"he  would  put  it  through  regardless  ot  cost,  lo 
accompHsh  a  thing  he  spared  neither  time  nor  money^ 
I  remember  how  he  took  great  interest  •"  getting  up 
specimens  of  cotton  in  all  its  stages  from  the  seed  to 
the  finished  cloth,  to  send  to  schools  in  the  Northern 
States  for  the  benefit  of  pupils  who  never  saw  any 
cotton  growing.  He  always  had  in  hand  some  such 
ente^rise  and  spent  thousands  of  dollars  m  their 
accomplishment."  Similar  testimony  is  borne  by 
H.  E  C.  Bryant,  an  intimate  friend  and  fellow  worker 


384  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

on  the  Charlotte  Observer  for  twenty  years:  ''^fr. 
Tompkins  cared  nothing  for  money.  Neither  he 
nor  Mr.  Caldwell  ever  considered  money  in  shaping 
the  management  and  policy  of  the  Charlotte  Observer.  ^^ 
In  altruistic  work  as  speaker,  writer,  and  author,  in 
promoting  and  assisting  industrial  enterprises  that 
were  not  successful,  as  well  as  in  philanthropies 
and  charities  never  seen  or  known  by  the  public, 
Tompkins  gratuitously  and  freely  consumed  and 
donated  for  the  good  of  humanity  as  large  a  fortune 
as  the  one  which  he  retained. 

Ajitrnng  chnrnctorintic  of  Tomplrin^ijYrrijnLLpnTrrr 
He  concentrated  his  faculties  and  energies  on  what- 
ever task  he  was  performing.  He  would  compose  a 
speech  or  plan  a  building  in  the  midst  of  a  crowd 
or  in  a  railway  coach,  regardless  of  noises,  interrup- 
tions, and  diversions.  When  he  took  up  an  idea,  he 
studied  it  from  every  angle,  and  saturated  his  mind 
with  facts  and  theories  concerning  it,  developing 
the  idea  in  his  own  mind  through  many  stages  of 
evolution,  until  finally  it  blossomed  forth  in  perfect 
shape  as  a  manufacturing  plant,  or  a  system  of  ware- 
houses for  marketing  cotton,  or  an  address  on  tech- 
nical education,  or  a  scheme  for  promoting  thrift 
and  industry  among  Southern  working  people.  He 
never  let  go  an  idea  until  he  had  exhausted  it.  His 
youthful  experience  at  Bethlehem  with  building  and 
loan  associations  served  him  for  thirty  years  as  a 
lesson  in  thrift  and  a  text  for  preaching  thrift  to 
others. 

Only  once  in  his  long  career  did  Tompkins  change 
a  deliberately  formed  plan  or  purpose.  His  early 
ambition  was  to  achieve  a  career  in  iron,  to  become 
a  great  iron  master  like  John  Fritz.  This  idea  bound 
him  to  Bethlehem  during  his  long  apprenticeship. 


SUMMARY  OF  LIFE  385 

But 'when  lie  studied  the^  Southernjndustm^ 
tion  and  saw  thatjhe_SmitEio«14-fe€^aided"more%r 
tiie  development  of  cotton  industriea^  than  by  tlie^ 
develojpmenf^^on^^ 

to  nbecome^Imissionary    of    cotton.     His   making  . 

tTie"cEange^as  a  fine  exhibition  of^ill  power;  for  ^ 

he  tore  up  by  the  roots  the  settled  purpose  and  strong 
ambition  of  his  early  life.     Will  power  was  the  force 
that  carried  him  not  only  through  life's  triumphs 
and   successes,   but   also  through   disappointments, 
discouragements,  and  pending  disasters.     It  enabled 
him  to  face  life  without  flinching,  to  meet  its  difficul- 
ties with  courage  and  determination  never  to  yield. 
A  beautiful  and  striking  illustration  of  Tompkins' 
will  power  and  a  most  instructive  lesson  to  young 
men  was  his  overcoming  a  natural  bashfulness  and 
disinclination  to   speak  in  public.     "As  a  boy  at 
school  my  brother  had  a  horror  of  speaking  in  public,' 
says  Hon.  A.  S.  Tompkins.     "Friday  afternoon  at 
the  old  field  schools,  he  would  often  be  punished 
before  he  would  undertake  the  usual  old  field  school 
declamation.     By  nature  taciturn  and  of  few  words, 
he  just  could  not,  for  a  long  time,  get  up  in  public 
and  spout  out  something  he  did  not  feel.     His  first 
attempts  at  public  speaking  later  in  life  were  utter 
failures  and  he  broke  down.     Once  after  such  a  fail- 
ure before  an  indulgent  audience,  he  said  that  he  was 
inspired  with  the  thought  that  he  never  could  make  a 
bigger  failure  than  he  had  just  made;  and  so,  in  time, 
by  strong  tenacity  of  purpose,  he  not  only  overcame 
this    embarrassment,    but    found    himself    making 
speeches  all  over  the  country,  as  much  to  his  own 
amazement  as  anybody  else's.     He  had  reached  that 
mental  attainment  where  he  had  something  to  say. 
Ideas    of    instruction    and    construction,    nascent 


S86  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

thoughts  that  burst  through  the  eggshell  of  his  em- 
barrassment with  all  that  gentle  force  that  nature 
hatches  out  the  young  chick.  He  learned  not  only 
to  speak  in  public  with  ease  and  grace,  but  with  a 
dash  of  Irish  humor  in  his  nature,  he  would  adorn 
his  speeches  with  anecdotes  and  illustrations." 
When  Tompkins  realized  that  oratory  is  one  of  the 
«  fffeatest  instrumentalities  for  moving  mankind, 
\/and  that  Southern  people  especially  are  aroused  to 
action  mainly  by  public  speeches,  he  focussed  his  will 
power  and  concentrated  his  energies  on  the  appar- 
ently impossible  task  of  making  himself  a  fluent, 
attractive,  and  forcible  speaker.  His  success  was 
perfect;  a  great  triumph  of  character,  energy,  and  will 
power  over  natural  timidity  and  reticence.  For 
thirty  years  he  made  speeches  before  colleges,  schools 
and  universities,  before  state  legislatures  and  com- 
mittees of  Congress,  before  national  associations  of 
bankers,  manufacturers,  and  social  workers,  before 
local  gatherings  of  farmers,  merchants,  and  laborers, 
before  cotton  mill  operatives  and  women's  clubs, 
before  millionaire  capitalists  and  young  men  starting 
penniless  in  life.CHe  never  spoke  for  pay,  or  for 
x^^  politics,  or  from  vanity.  His  speeches  were  gratui- 
tous and  philanthropic  They  exhibited  him  as  a 
student  of  history  and  economic  problems,  as  a  deep 
and  original  thinker,  as  a  prophet  with  a  vision  of 
the  future  and  a  message  to  the  world.  He  never 
made  a  tiresome  speech.  His  audiences  always 
wished  for  more.  They  recognized  him  at  once  as 
master  of  his  subject,  as  having  a  purpose  to  help 
and  instruct,  as  free  from  vanity  and  desire  for 
self -ostentation.  Anybody  could  interrupt  him  and 
ask  questions.  He  was  the  most  popular,  the  most 
forcible,  the  most  efficient  of  all  Southern  speakers 


SUMMARY  OF  LIFE  387 

who  spoke  without  pay,  without  politics,  without 
vanity,  and  solely  for  the  promotion  of  the  public 
good.  His  anecdotes,  his  witticisms,  his  aphoristic 
sentences  became  current  coin  throughout  the  nation. 
His  work  as  a  speaker  was  a  powerful  factor  in  his 
work  as  a  builder.  It  should  be  to  young  men  a 
helpful  lesson  not  only  in  will  power,  but  also  in 
speaking.  It  shows  that  a  man  can  speak,  if  he  has 
something  to  say,  that  "an  orator,"  as  Quintilian 
says,  "is  a  good  man,  strongly  moved." 

The  social  instincts  were  very  strong  in  Tompkins. 
They  were  exhibited  in  long  and  enduring  friendships, 
in  constant  and  generous  hospitality,  in  love  of  home 
and  kindred,  as  well  as  in  writing,  speaking,  and  work- 
ing for  the  general  uplift  of  humanity.  He  was  fond 
of  folks,  and  loved  company — was  warmed  by  the 
light  of  a  friendly  eye  and  the  touch  of  a  friendly 
hand. 

His  fondness  for  children  and  young  girls  and  cul- 
tured women  was  the  tenderest  quahty  in  his  appar- 
ently rugged  nature.  As  a  child  he  was  "mother's 
boy,"  loving  to  be  fondled  and  caressed,  as  a  lad  he 
was  "buddy",  the  darling  of  his  sisters,  as  a  young 
worker  at  Bethelehem  he  sought  out,  and  was  ac- 
cepted as  a  friend,  in  the  most  cultured  homes.  A 
friendship  here  formed  endured  until  his  death,  with 
frequent  and  loving  letters  through  years  of  toil  and 
busy  work  on  his  part,  of  travel  in  many  lands  and 
residence  in  many  places  by  his  friend.  After  his 
death,  among  hundreds  of  letters  there  came  to  his 
private  secretary  a  tender  note  of  woe  from  Mrs.  F., 
his  Bethlehem  good  angel:  "Some  day  when  you 
have  time,  perhaps  you  will  write  me  a  little  more 
about  the  last  days  of  Mr.  Tompkins;  if  he  talked 
of  the  good  old  days  in  Bethlehem,  when  he  played 


388  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

with  my  children  and  considered  my  home  a  place 
for  rest  and  pleasure  in  his  very  busy  and  lonely 
life."  Another  highly  cultured  lady  friend  kept  up 
for  thirty  years  an  active  correspondence  with  him, 
never  failing  to  send  him  greetings  on  his  birthdays, 
as  well  as  at  Christmas,  New  Year's,  Easter,  and 
other  festivals.  At  the  age  of  seventy  she  was 
writing  him,  "I  do  not  know  a  more  profitable  way  I 
can  spend  the  Sabbath  than  having  a  little  chat  with 
you,"  and  again,  "I  wish  you  to  know  that  I  am 
thinking  of  you  this  Christmas  day."  He  carefully 
treasured  and  preserved  all  these  tokens  of  friendship 
and  esteem. 

A  tender  sympathy  attracted  him  to  the  female 
sex,  and  secured  for  him  women  friends,  wherever 
he  lived,  or  travelled,  or  worked.  For  years  after 
working  in  Germany,  he  corresponded  with  the  wife 
and  two  daughters  of  the  German  schoolmaster  with 
whom  he  had  boarded;  and  filed  their  letters.  His 
busy  life  was  cheered  and  warmed  by  constant  episto- 
lary greetings  from  countless  lady  friends,  whose 
letters  were  filed  away  among  his  treasures,  some 
humorous,  some  abounding  in  good  fellowship,  some 
full  of  happy  reminiscences,  some  teasing  and  banter- 
ing, some  abounding  in  grateful  appreciation  of 
generous  assistance,  all  warm  with  admiration,  regard, 
and  genuine  friendship.  His  women  friends  admired 
his  strength  of  mind,  body,  and  character;  and  were 
charmed  with  his  never-failing  courtesy  and  gene- 
rosity. Every  woman  to  him  was  an  object  of  rever- 
ence, or  admiration,  or  affection.  He  aided  many 
girls  to  an  education,  preferring  to  develop  their 
character  by  loans  rather  than  by  gifts.  But  he 
would  not  accept  interest,  and  in  proper  cases  the 
loans   became  gifts.     He   would   take   women   and 


SUMMARY  OF  UFE  389 

girls  who  needed  building  up  on  vacation  trips  to 
the  seashore  or  to  Northern  cities.     He  was  a  con- 
stant sender  of  flowers,  books,  and  small  gifts  of  money 
to  lady  friends  in  hospitals,  or  in  needy  circumstances. 
Struggling  artists   were  encouraged   with  generous 
orders  for  portraits;  authors  were  assisted  with  loans; 
sick  girls  were  sent  as  his  guests  to  hospitals  and 
afterward  during  convalescence  to  seaside  or  other 
resorts      "During  his  frequent  visits  to  Kaleigh, 
savs  his  sister,  "he  never  took  dinner  without  having 
as  his  guests  a  bevy  of  Charlotte  girls,  who  were 
pupils  in  St.  Mary's  or  Peace  Institute.    In  New 
York  he  would  hunt  up  girl  friends  and  acquaintances 
from  the  South,  and  drive  them  around  the  city 
and  through  the  parks  and  take  them  to  theatres 
He  loved  the  whole  sex  and  enjoyed  intensely  female 
sympathy,  female  presence,  and  the  female  touch. 
"Few  people  understood  my  brother  s  affectionate 
disposition  and  his  desire  to  be  loved  and  petted. 
The  last  few  years  of  his  life,  during  his  semi-invalid- 
ism,  I  always  helped  him  undress;  and  often  when 
he  started  to  bed  he  would  call  all  the  girls  m  the 
house  and  say,    'Come  and  put  me  to  bed.     VVe 
would   all  come,  and  he  would  heartdy  enjoy  it, 
as  one  would  unlace  a  shoe,  another  take  off  his  coat, 
etc     Then  he  always  wanted  to  be  kissed  good-night 
and  kissed  good-morning.    After  he  was  m  bed,  it  1 
was  sewing  or  reading,  he  frequently  asked  me  to  sit 
in  his  room  near  Us  beside,  so  he  would  feel  my  pres- 
ence in  his  sleep."  , 
His  fondness  for  children  was  equaUy  marked. 
"I  never  saw  any  one,"  said  his  private  secretary, 
"who  enjoyed  children  as  much  as  Mr.  Tompkms. 
Whenever  he  came  to  Mr.  Fred  Oliver's,  where  I 
lived  in  Charlotte,  he  would  get  on  the  floor,  or  on 


390  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

the  couch,  and  the  children  would  romp  all  over 
him.  He  said  it  was  a  great  pleasure  and  a  diversion 
for  him  after  being  all  day  in  the  drawing  room,  work- 
ing on  engineering  plans.  His  fondness  for  children 
and  his  entertainment  of  them  lasted  all  through  his 
life.  He  frequently  would  invite  three  or  four  little 
girls  and  take  them  on  a  day  or  two  stay  at  his  High- 
shoals  Mills.  He  liked  little  boys  also,  but  was 
especially  fond  of  little  girls  and  young  school  girls, 
and  young  lady  college  girls.  If  he  went  any  place 
where  any  of  his  girl  friends  were  attending  college. 
North,  South,  or  anywhere,  he  found  time  to  give 
them  some  little  outing,  a  meal  at  the  hotel,  or  an 
evening  at  the  theatre,  according  as  they  were  al- 
lowed, and  as  he  could  arrange  for  a  chaperone  for 
them.  He  always  knew  the  right  way  to  do  this 
sort  of  things.  He  often  took  ladies  on  pleasure 
trips  with  his  sister  Grace  as  a  chaperone;  and  very 
seldom  sat  down  to  a  meal  anywhere  that  he  did  not 
have  some  lady  take  it  with  him." 

"My  brother  loved  children  with  a  very  strong 
affection,"  writes  Mrs.  Ennett.  "He  frequently 
came  in  the  hotel  at  Charlotte  and  brought  a  child 
with  him  whom  he  had  picked  up  on  the  street  for  a 
meal.  When  he  lived  at  Montr  eat  our  neighbor's 
children  were  all  his  pets.  They  would  sit  upon  his 
knee  and  thoroughly  enjoy  him  as  much  as  he  en- 
joyed them." 

In  correspondence  with  his  friends  Tompkins 
rarely  failed  to  mention  by  name  each  child  in  the 
family;  and,  if  there  was  a  girl,  she  was  sure  to  be 
the  centre  of  his  thoughts.  "My  dear  Bryant, 
First  of  all,  give  my  love  to  Betty,  then  if  there  is  any 
left  you  and  Mrs.  Bryant  can  divide  it  between  you. 
I  enjoyed  the  visit  of  the  ladies  exceedingly,  and  I 


SUMMARY  OF  LIFE  391 

enjoyed  Betty  in  particular,  because  she  was  such  a 
sweet,  natural,  and  guileless  child,  she  is  neither  for- 
ward nor  backward  but  whose  manners  are  charm- 
ing as  they  were  born  in  her." 

It  is  a  wise  man  who  chooses  well  his  friends.  In 
this  wisdom  Tompkins  was  very  wise.  His  lady 
friends,  old  and  young  and  little  children,  warmed 
his  life  with  joy  and  sunshine,  lifting  him  many  times 
out  of  the  shadows.  There  was  one  whose  benefi- 
cent influence,  never-failing  loyalty  and  invaluable 
help  began  with  his  life  work  at  Charlotte,  and  never 
relaxed  until  he  closed  his  eyes  in  death  at  Montreat. 
For  more  than  thirty  years,  first  as  his  stenographer, 
then  as  private  secretary,  and  finally  as  private  book- 
keeper, treasurer,  and  close  friend,  Miss  Anna  L. 
Twelvetrees  devoted  herself  absolutely  to  the  pro- 
motion of  his  interests.  Her  fine  mental  ability  and 
training,  with  rare  talent  for  details,  enabled  her  to 
familiarize  herself  with  his  voluminous  business  and 
immense  correspondence,  and  to  attain  such  a  degree 
of  efficiency,  both  of  management  and  of  counsel, 
that  she  became  not  only  his  indispensable  assistant, 
but  his  alter  ego.  His  high  regard  and  esteem  for  her 
and  his  confidence  in  her  character  and  ability  were 
attested  by  his  making  her  one  of  the  joint  heirs  of 
his  large  estate  and  appointing  her  as  one  amongst 
his  executors  to  carry  out  his  last  will  and  testament. 

In  selecting  friends  Tompkins  was  wise;  in  dealing 
with  them  he  was  kind  and  just,  unselfish  and  gen- 
erous. He  sought  out  Joseph  P.  Caldwell,  brought 
him  from  Statesville  to  Charlotte,  and  made  possible 
his  great  career  as  editor  of  the  Charlotte  Observer, 
financing  that  paper  through  struggling  years  of 
poverty  and  heavy  expense.  But  Tompkins  did 
more  than  this:  he  wrote  almost  daily  one  or  more 


392  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

columns  of  editorials,  or  news,  or  comment,  to  be 
published  in  the  Observer  without  credit  to  him.  He 
loved  Caldwell  like  a  brother,  took  care  of  his 
financial  interests  with  the  tenderness  of  a  father,  and 
joined  in  the  public  applause  which  credited  him 
with  the  entire  achievement.  Tompkins  was  sat- 
isfied with  helping  to  produce  for  the  South  a  model, 
independent,  industrial  daily  newspaper.  He  neither 
wished  nor  sought  credit  for  his  own  endless  work  in 
this  great  production. 

Even  his  own  career  Tompkins  would  habitually 
attribute  to  others,  who  had  influenced  his  plans  and 
purposes,  or  given  him  opportunities  for  work:  Prof. 
E.  P.  Alexander  of  the  University  of  South  Carolina, 
who  recognized  his  constructive  talents  and  advised 
him  to  go  North  for  technical  training  and  educa- 
tion; Alexander  L.  Holley,  the  great  engineer,  who 
inspired  him  with  confidence  and  ambition  on  his 
graduation  from  college  in  Troy;  John  Fritz,  iron 
master,  who  gave  him  the  severe  training  essential 
to  his  future  success ;  and  George  Westinghouse,  who 
made  him  agent  for  his  vast  interests  in  the  South- 
eastern States.  He  rarely  made  a  speech  without  re- 
ferring to  one  or  more  of  these  men.  Among  his 
unpublished  papers  is  a  pamphlet  entitled  "My 
Four  Bosses,"  in  which  he  sketches  the  lives  and 
works  of  Alexander,  Holley,  Fritz,  and  Westinghouse, 
testifying  his  gratitude  to  them  for  molding  his  life 
and  crediting  them  with  all  the  achievements  of  his 
career. 

His  friendship  with  Fritz  grew  warmer  and 
stronger  every  year,  and  culminated  in  his  selection 
by  Fritz  to  write  his  biography.  This  work  was 
prevented  by  failing  health;  and  on  the  urgent  ad- 
vice of  Tompkins,  Fritz  dictated  his  autobiography, 


SUMMARY  OF  LIFE  393 

adopting  the  plan  and  style  suggested  by  Tomp- 
kins. 

Many  strong  and  lasting  friendships,  based  upon 
mutual  esteem  and  confidence,  enabled  Tompkins 
to  form  business  connections  of  the  greatest  import- 
ance to  himself,  to  Charlotte,  to  the  Piedmont 
South,  and  to  Southern  industrial  development 
generally.  His  early  partnership  in  Charlotte  with 
R.  M.  Miller,  Sr.;  his  agency  for  Westinghouse;  his 
business  connections  with  the  Mason  Company  of 
Taunton,  Mass.;  and  the  Vaile  Co.,  at  Dayton,  Ohio; 
his  friendship  with  R.  H.  Edmonds,  editor  of  the 
Manufacturers'  Record;  with  the  oflScers  and  leading 
spirits  in  various  State  and  National  industrial  and 
financial  associations;  with  leading  editors  and  news- 
paper publishers  throughout  the  country;  with 
college  faculties  and  presidents;  with  members  of  the 
National  Congress  and  of  various  state  legislatures, 
formed  a  strong  chain  of  influence  and  power  in 
promoting  and  extending  Southern  industrial  enter- 
prise, in  educating  Southern  sentiment,  and  in 
arousing  the  Southern  people  to  action  along  many 
lines  of  work.  His  life  is  a  lesson  in  the  value  of 
friends  and  the  power  of  friendship. 

The  last  five  years  of  the  life  of  Tompkins  were 
spent  in  a  condition  of  semi-invalidism  after  a  slight 
stroke  of  paralysis.  It  was  during  this  period 
that  his  finest  and  most  lovable  qualities  were  mani- 
fested: abounding  hospitality  and  love  of  humanity, 
patience  and  cheerfulness,  breadth  of  mind  and 
human  sympathy,  interest  in  everything  pertaining 
to  life. 

After  partially  recovering  from  the  stroke  of 
paralysis,  Tompkins  built  a  home  at  Montreat, 
Buncombe  County,  N.  C,  at  the  foot  of  the  Black 


394  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

Mountain  range.  His  cottage  was  on  a  spur  of  the 
mountain  overlooking  the  beautiful  Swannanoa 
Valley  and  affording  a  grand  view  of  distant  moun- 
tain ranges.  This  was  the  first  home  that  he  ever 
had.  The  untimely  death  of  his  fiancee,  followed  by 
a  life  of  ceaseless  labor  and  much  travel,  with  daily 
shifting  residence,  had  crushed  his  hopes  for  a  home 
and  made  him  a  dweller  in  hotels,  sleeping  cars,  and 
club  rooms.  But  rest  had  come  at  last — rest  most 
welcome  and  most  unwelcome.  Unused  to  rest  and 
longing  for  work,  he  fought  for  awhile  against  fate, 
seeking  everywhere  remedies  and  treatment  for  his 
illness.  But  soon,  in  spite  of  hopes  and  assurances 
from  friends  and  physicians,  his  clear  mind  saw  the 
truth,  and  his  brave,  cheerful  spirit  accepted  it. 
"When  he  finally  knew  he  would  never  be  well," 
says  Mrs.  Ennett,  "he  took  it  most  beautifully.  He 
began  to  interest  himself  in  his  home,  reading  and 
making  the  most  of  what  was  left  for  him  in  life.  He 
told  me  that  he  had  made  up  his  mind  definitely  that 
for  his  own  sake  and  the  sake  of  his  friends,  he  must 
be  cheerful  and  throw  off  the  worry  of  bad  health. 
I  never  saw  a  gamer,  braver  spirit  than  his  through 
the  five  years  of  his  invalidism."  .  .  .  "When 
we  went  to  housekeeping,  he  interested  himself  in 
everything,  even  in  cooking.  He  bought  five  different 
cooking  stoves  just  to  experiment  with:  they  were  a 
fireless  cooker,  a  coal  and  wood  range,  an  oil  stove,  an 
electric  range  and  an  Alladin's  oven.  He  often  said 
-4ie  would  have  been  a  cook  if  he  had  his  life  to  go 
over;  and  cited  the  wonderful  scientific  possibilities 
connected  with  cooking.  He  explained  what  a 
wonderful  field  cooking  had,  and  how  he  would  have 
started  right  at  the  foundation  of  cooking,  just  as 
he  did  at  machine  work,  and  gradually  have  worked 


SUMMARY  OF  LIFE  395 

himself  up  to  one  of  the  biggest  hotel  men  in  the 
United  States.  His  patience  and  hopefulness  were 
never  exhausted.  He  would  encourage  me  to  carry 
through  to  successful  end  whatever  experiment 
we  undertook.  *Just  keep  trying,'  he  would  say, 
*you  may  fail  forty  eleven  times,  but  you  are  bound 
to  succeed  if  you  just  keep  trying.'  He  used  to  have 
a  story  he  was  fond  of  telling  about  a  ship  becalmed 
out  at  sea  in  the  mouth  of  the  Amazon  River  without 
drinking  water.  This  ship  sighted  another  and  began 
to  signal  for  water.  The  answer  came,  *Let  down 
your  buckets  where  you  are.'  It  was  done,  and 
fresh  water  was  found  right  there,  where  the  crew 
thought  they  were  going  to  die  of  thirst.  He 
frequently  said  everybody  had  opportunities  right 
where  they  were,  if  they  only  looked  for  them,  and 
tried  to  use  them. 

"My  brother  was  one  of  the  most  hospitable 
persons  I  ever  knew:  he  very  seldom  sat  down  to  a 
meal  in  his  Montreat  home  without  guests.  He 
would  actually  sit  down  and  try  to  think  of  some 
extra  guest  to  invite  in.  The  table  was  always  set 
with  extra  seats  so  that  company  could  be  invited 
in  without  a  moment's  notice.  But  he  was  fond  of 
plain  food,  plain  dress,  and  plain  hving.  He  liked 
Southern  dishes  and  Southern  cooking.  I  always 
felt  that  he  enjoyed  reproducing  in  his  Montreat 
home  our  father's  South  Carolina  home." 

To  his  Montreat  home  Tompkins  cordially  invited 
his  many  friends,  North  and  South.  "You  forget 
that  I  am  seventy  years  old,"  replied  one  of  his  life- 
long lady  friends.  Many  could  not  come,  from 
sickness,  old  age,  or  business,  but  sweet  letters  of  love 
and  friendship  blessed  and  cheered  his  heart.  And 
guests   in   large   numbers   did   come   almost   daily: 


396  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

artists,  authors,  teachers,  preachers,  editors,  bet- 
terment workers,  trained  nurses,  manufacturers,  col- 
lege presidents,  mill  workers,  statesmen,  and  politi- 
cians, old  and  young,  rich  and  poor,  mothers, 
matrons,  and  pretty  girls.  *'  I  remember  sitting  down 
to  dinner  at  my  brother's  home  in  Montreat  with 
over  a  dozen  lady  guests,"  says  A.  S.  Tompkins, 
"I  being  the  only  gentleman  and  feeling  somewhat 
abashed  by  the  brilliant  galaxy  of  lovehness  and 
beauty." 

"His  home  at  Montreat  was  rarely  without  lady 
guests,"  says  his  secretary,  Miss  Twelvetrees.  "He 
would  talk  to  them  on  all  kinds  of  subjects,  not  only 
literature,  music,  and  current  news,  but  gardens, 
flowers,  building  homes,  cooking,  making  tea,  educat- 
ing children,  etc.  His  company  when  out  driving 
was  usually  from  among  his  lady  friends,  young, 
middle  aged,  or  old,  married  or  single,  according 
as  he  felt  at  the  time." 

His  life  at  Montreat  exhibits  Tompkins  as  master 
of  himself,  making  the  most  of  the  powers  that 
he  had,  enjoying  the  life  that  remained,  and  serving 
humanity.  With  devoted  and  congenial  friends  as 
his  guests  and  daily  companions,  with  nature  in 
majestic  grandeur  and  beauty  to  gladden  his  eyes  and 
elevate  his  soul,  with  books,  magazines,  and  news- 
papers picturing  the  daily  life  of  the  world  with 
letters  to  and  from  absent  friends,  with  intellect 
strong  and  clear,  with  spirit  sweet,  cheerful,  and 
responsive  to  life,  he  was  a  beautiful  illustration  of  the 
superiority  of  the  soul  and  the  mind  over  the  physi- 
cal body.  Nor  was  he  idle.  Each  day  he  kept  a 
stenographer  busy,  as  he  dictated  letters,  newspaper 
articles,  personal  memories,  and  business  directions. 
With  bodv  weakened  and  disabled,  he  was  still  a 


SUMMARY  OF  LIFE  397 

good  soldier  of  humanity,  fighting  bravely  with 
brain  and  heart. 

His  mind  struggled  with  all  the  problems  of  life. 
He  was  fond  of  analyzing  his  own  sickness.  "Since 
I  have  been  sick,"  he  wrote  in  his  memoirs,  "I  have 
had  occasion  to  reflect  upon  the  multitudinous 
phases  that  exist  in  the  nervous  system  of  the  hu- 
man body  and  the  multitudinous  ways  in  which 
these  may  get  out  of  order.  A  life  that  is  strenuous, 
but  not  the  best  balanced  for  exercise  and  recreation, 
is  liable  to  lead  to  a  sort  of  general  breakdown  of  the 
nervous  system.  I  have  been  astonished  to  see  how 
many  people  suffer  from  general  debility,  or  break- 
down. In  most  of  the  cases  the  mind  does  not  give 
way  at  all,  but  is  handicapped  with  a  weakened  body. 
The  probabilities  are  that  at  the  Battle  of  Waterloo 
Napoleon's  energies  and  vital  forces  had  been  simply 
overstrained;  and,  therefore,  he  lost  the  Battle  of 
Waterloo.  While  he  was  on  the  Island  of  St.  Helena, 
his  vital  energy  seemed  to  be  low.  He  was  many 
times  peevish  and  fretful,  which  is  nothing  but  a 
general  breakdown  of  one  of  the  phases  of  the  ner- 
vous system,  due  to  overwork  and  over-exertion  and 
not  sleeping  enough  and  not  rest  enough. 

"The  doctors  don't  seem  to  study  these  sort  of 
cases  as  they  ought  to.  The  average  doctor  knows 
what  to  do  if  you  have  snake  bite  or  smallpox,  but  in 
the  case  of  a  complicated  nervous  trouble  they  don't 
seem  to  try  much  to  diagnose  the  case.  This  re- 
mark must  not  be  construed  as  making  light  of  the 
doctors.  It  is  simply  that  they  have  no  way  of  know- 
ing how  the  weariness  of  the  body  may  become  in- 
capable of  taking  care  of  the  activities  of  the  mind; 
and,  therefore,  the  mind  becomes  crippled  and  can- 
not get  its   ideas   executed.     It  seems  to  me  the 


X. 


398  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

remedy  is  wholly  Nature's  remedy.  The  primitive 
man  is  building  up  mental  and  physical  strength, 
which  are  wasted  in  the  process  of  civilization.  The 
only  way  to  recuperate  them  is  for  a  man  to  go  into 
the  mountains  or  a  cool  Northern  climate,  and  return 
to  the  primitive  life,  as  it  were.  Even  in  this  situa- 
tion the  process  is  very  slow.  The  greatest  difficulty 
is  for  the  man  himself  to  get  his  own  consent  to  pull 
himself  loose  from  his  life  ties  and  life  activities,  and 
return  to  the  simple  life  away  from  civilization. 
Someone  has  said, 

*0h,  for  a  lodge  in  some  vast  wilderness. 
Where  wars  and  rumors  of  wars  could  never  reach 

me  more.' 
"This  describes  a  sort  of  retirement  that  a  man 
has  got  to  enter  upon.  The  feeling  of  many  a  man 
is  that  this  is  such  a  revolution  he  might  as  well 
continue  the  old  way,  and  die,  rather  than  enter  upon 
retirement,  and  lengthen  out  a  useless  life." 

A  useless  life!  Nothing  could  be  more  repugnant 
and  more  impossible  to  Tompkins.  He  preferred 
to  die  in  the  harness.  Unable  to  walk,  he  dictated 
to  his  stenographer  newspaper  editorials,  comments, 
and  criticisms  on  every  subject  of  interest  to  hu- 
manity. The  following  are  samples  of  the  topics  he 
discussed  in  various  newspaper  articles  during  his 
invalidism:  Panama  Canal  Tolls,  Morris  Plan  of 
Banking,  Harry  Thaw,  Life  Insurance,  Ulster  and 
Irish  Home  Rule,  Mexico,  Rural  Credits,  Cotton 
Planting  and  Marketing,  Diamonds,  Tuberculosis 
in  North  Carolina,  Boy  and  Farm,  Export  Trade, 
Women  as  Mechanics,  Building  and  Loan  Associa- 
tions, Sand  Clay  Roads,  School  Declamations,  Philip- 
pine Independence,  Lynching,  Merchant  Marine, 
Parcel  Post,  System  of  Taxation,  N.  C.  Constitu- 


SUMMARY  OF  LIFE  399 

tional  Amendments,  Recent  Books,  Freight  Rates, 
Initiative  and  Referendum,  The  Tariff,  Good  Cook- 
ing, Immigration,  Cotton  Pickers. 

He  was  deeply  interested  in  current  events,  es- 
pecially the  national  elections,  the  amendments  to 
the  North  Carolina  State  Constitution  and  con- 
gressional and  state  legislation.  His  interest  in 
life  never  flagged.  He  still  longed  to  make  contribu- 
tions to  human  knowledge,  power,  and  happiness. 
Even  his  own  illness  was  occasion  and  material  for 
studying  the  mystery  of  human  thought  and  human 
conscience : 

"The  reason  that  I  cannot  walk  is  not  that  the 
strength  of  my  limbs  gives  out,  but  there  is  a  sort  of 
backward  charge,  apparently,  over  the  nervous  sys- 
tem to  the  brain.  In  other  words,  the  nervous  fluid, 
whatever  it  is  that  is  sent  out  by  the  brain,  does  not 
reach  the  muscles  of  the  limbs  in  full  force,  but 
surges  back  to  its  origin  in  the  brain;  and  the  limb 
refuses  to  move.  A  cloud  may  be  heavily  charged 
with  lightning  by  some  means  which  nobody  yet 
knows.  Such  a  charge  can  induce  another  charge 
in  an  adjacent  cloud,  or  on  a  wire  more  or  less  adja- 
cent. 

"Nature  seems  to  be  full  of  forces  that  we  don't 
understand;  the  forces  of  love  and  hate  amongst 
others.  The  mind  has  a  faculty  of  selecting  these 
forces  and  binding  them  together  in  such  quantities 
as  seem  fit.  Or  selecting  them  as  between  good  and 
evil.  Herein  is  where  the  Creator  has  made  the 
individual  responsible.  As  there  are  twenty-six 
letters  in  the  alphabet  which  by  multiplicity  of 
arrangement  can  be  made  to  mean  a  multiplicity 
of  different  things,  so  a  multiplicity  of  forces  in 
Nature  and  in  the  brain  may  be  capable  of  producing 


400  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

mental  or  psychic  combinations  that  give  direction 
to  each  individual  life.  It  occurs  to  me  that  there 
might  be  millions,  or  even  an  infinite  number,  of 
such  forces;  and  that  possibly  the  human  mind  might 
be  endowed  with  ability  to  select  such  thoughts 
as  constitute  any  ordinary  motive.  In  fact,  other 
animals  as  well  as  man  may  be  so  endowed,  with  or 
without  the  volition  to  select.  If  there  is  such  an 
endowment  in  man,  a  proper  exercise  of  it  is  what 
constitutes  the  responsibility  of  the  Christian  religion 
and  human  life." 

The  deep  problems  of  life  impressed  Tompkins 
more  and  more  as  physical  activities  ceased  to  employ 
his  mind.  He  was  not  a  church  member,  although 
he  had  always  been  active  and  generous  in  helping  to 
build  and  support  churches.  "He  was  not  a  church 
goer,"  says  Miss  Twelvetrees,  "but  thought  it 
good  for  others  to  go.  He  was  fond  of  saying  that 
he  was  doing  work  which  the  church  did  not  do.  He 
believed  in  the  principles  of  the  Bible,  and  during  his 
last  years  he  gave  more  outward  expression  and  inter- 
est in  talking  of  and  the  study  of  the  Bible.  It  was 
read  aloud  daily  around  his  family  table  at  Mon- 
treat." 

Among  his  favorite  guests  at  Montreat  were  two 
fc41ow  workers  on  the  Charlotte  Observer^  Howard  A. 
Banks  and  H.  E.  C.  Bryant.  The  latter,  at  this 
time  Washington  correspondent  of  the  New  York 
World  and  also  of  the  Charlotte  Observer,  shared 
with  Tompkins  the  pleasures  not  only  of  friendly 
reminiscence  and  philosophic  meditation,  but  also 
the  undercurrent  of  news  in  the  national  capitol  and 
the  newspaper  world,  not  omitting  the  choicest  gossip 
and  brightest  stories.  Tompkins  loved  Bryant  and 
his  family  almost  as  his  own  kindred.     Howard  A. 


SUMMARY  OF  LIFE  401 

Banks,  now  associate  editor  of  the  Philadelphia 
Sunday  School  Times,  was  also  very  near  and  dear. 
His  last  visit  to  Montreat,  two  months  before  the 
death  of  Tompkins,  was  followed  by  a  friendly  letter 
containing  an  appeal  for  a  confession  of  Christian 
faith:  *'I  have  been  intending  before  this  to  drop  you 
a  line  to  thank  you  for  your  delightful  hospitality 
and  for  the  opportunity  to  become  acquainted  with 
the  lovely  women  of  your  household.  I  cannot  close 
without  saying  (and  I  hope  you  will  not  consider  me 
bold  nor  impertinent)  that  I  trust  you  are  putting 
your  faith  in  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ, 
who  only  can  save  us  from  our  sins  through  His  atone- 
ment accomplished  on  the  Cross. 

"I  know  you  have  always  had  the  highest  respect 
for  genuine  Christianity,  but  I  never  heard  you  say 
that  you  were  on  the  safe  side  of  the  line  yourself. 
K  you  are,  no  harm  can  come  from  my  writing  this; 
if  you  are  not,  I  trust  you  will,  by  the  act  of  the  will, 
take  the  easy  step  over  the  line  and  get  the  all-need- 
ful vision  of  'The  Lamb  of  God,  which  taketh  away 
the  sins  of  the  world.'  Forgive  one  who  has  learned 
so  much  from  you,  to  say  this  much." 

The  following  reply  was  made  by  Tompkins  about 
a  month  before  his  death : 

"My  Dear  Banks:  I  have  not  intended  to 
neglect  your  kind  letter  referring  to  my  spiritual  con- 
dition. I  have  never  been  unmindful  of  the  Creator, 
nor  of  His  omniscience  or  omnipotence.  For  good 
reason  He  has  withheld  from  mankind  a  full  knowl- 
edge of  the  mysteries  of  His  divinity,  but  for  the 
benefit  of  mankind  Christ  intervened  and  atoned  for 
some  of  these  deficiencies.  Through  Him  and  by 
faith  we  may  or  may  not,  according  as  we  make  an 
effort,  be  allowed  ultimately  to  participate  in  the  per- 


402  A  BUILDER  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

feet  plans  of  the  Creator.  I  know  that  I  have  not 
done  the  best  that  I  might  have  done,  but  with  the 
knowledge  of  Christ's  atonement  and  with  simple 
faith,  my  mind  and  heart  are  put  at  rest  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  future." 

His  paralysis  now  began  to  extend  over  the  body, 
and  soon  reached  the  brain.  The  end  came  with- 
out pain  or  struggle  at  noon  of  October  18,  1914. 

On  his  death  there  came  from  the  North  voices 
of  sorrow  and  admiration.  The  Northern  estimate 
of  him  was  expressed  in  a  message  from  the  National 
Association  of  Cotton  Manufacturers,  through  the 
secretary:  "We  had  come  to  regard  him  in  the  in- 
dustrial world  as  the  foremost  citizen  of  the  South." 
The  judgment  of  the  South  had  already  been  ex- 
pressed two  years  before  by  the  Manufacturers* 
Record:  "During  the  last  twenty -five  years  the 
South  has  had  many  great  leaders  in  business,  in 
finance,  in  educat'onal  work,  in  newspaper  control, 
but  in  all  the  list — and  a  long  one  it  is  of  men  who 
have  proved  themselves  giants  indeed — there  has 
not  appeared  a  greater  or  more  unique  character,  or 
one  who  has  done  a  vaster  amount  of  work  for  right 
thinking  and  right  training  and  right  development  on 
broad  and  safe  lines,  as  opposed  to  speculative  opera- 
tions, than  D.  A.  Tompkins." 

As  a  little  white  master  during  the  days  of  slavery 
he  had  wandered  with  negro  companions  through  the 
big  woods  and  played  in  the  cotton  fields  and  slave 
cabins.  He  had  listened  to  the  stories  of  Uncle 
Remus,  and  slept  in  the  arms  of  a  negro  mammy. 
The  memory  of  it  all  thrilled  him  with  tenderest 
emotions. 

But  he  lived  to  rejoice  in  the  overthrow  of  slavery 
and  secession,  to  champion  ship  subsidies  and  pro- 


SUMMARY  OF  LIFE  40S 

tective  tariffs,  to  dethrone  King  Cotton  from  the 
fields  and  enthrone  him  in  the  mills. 

He  raised  liis  native  State  and  his  adopted  State 
to  first  and  second  rank  respectively  in  the  number 
of  cotton-manufacturing  establishments  among  the 
states  of  the  American  Union. 

He  was  known  as  a  missionary  of  cotton,  but  his 
tireless  energy  and  versatility,  his  broad  vision  and 
universal  sympathy  made  him  speaker,  writer,  or 
worker  in  every  field  of  industrial  activity. 

He  built  a  New  South — of  mills  and  factories,  of 
skilled  labor  and  machinery,  of  diversified  and 
intensified  agriculture,  of  improved  railways  and 
highways,  of  savings  banks  and  building  and  loan 
associations — a  New  South  also  of  public  schools, 
technical  colleges,  and  expanding  universities,  of  in- 
dependent journaHsm  and  independent  thought — a 
New  South  of  universal  education  and  democracy. 


THE  COUNTRY  LIFE  PRESS 
GARDEN  CITY,  N.  Y. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00032703325 


FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECT: 


Fr^rr.,    <Nir,      A-'if-.k 


I!i  I 


iii 


n'li! 


